Greater Morocco is a label historically used by someMoroccan nationalist political leaders protesting againstSpanish,French andPortuguese rule, to refer to wider territories historically associated with the Moroccan sultan. Current usage most frequently occurs in a critical context, accusing Morocco, largely in discussing the disputedWestern Sahara, ofirredentist claims on neighboring territories.
The main competing ideologies of the Greater Morocco ideology have beenSahrawi nationalism,Mauritanian irredentism,Spanish nationalism,Berber separatism andPan-Arabism.
Irredentist, official and unofficial Moroccan claims on territories viewed by Moroccans as having been under some form of Moroccan sovereignty (most frequently with respect to the Spanish exclaves), are rhetorically tied back to an accused expansionism. However, Moroccan government claims make no current reference to the Greater Morocco concept.
In 1963, following the Independence ofAlgeria, Morocco attacked a strip of its south-western regions (Tindouf Province andBéchar Province), claiming that parts of them were previously under Moroccan sovereignty. There were several hundred casualties. French sources reported Algerian casualties to be 60 dead and 250 wounded,[1] with later works giving a number of 300 Algerian dead.[2] Morocco officially reported to have suffered 39 dead.[3] Moroccan losses were probably lower than the Algerians' but are unconfirmed,[1] with later sources reporting 200 Moroccan dead.[4] About 57 Moroccans and 379 Algerians weretaken prisoner.[3] After a month of fighting and some hundreds of casualties, the conflict stalemated (seeSand War).
In the early stages of decolonisation, certain elected Moroccan politicians, in particular some members of theIstiqlal Party, likeAllal al-Fassi, the sole advocate of “total liberation” who refused to enter France even to meet with his monarch or long-standing nationalist colleagues,[5] were in favour of claiming wider territories historically associated in some way with the Moroccan Sultan. That was initially not supported by the Sultan (later King) ofMorocco.[5]: 645 Al-Fassi's ambitions gained more support in parliament in the beginning of the sixties, leading to a delay in the recognition ofMauritania (independent in 1960, not recognised by Morocco until 1969).[5]: 646
Al-Fassi's wider claims were effectively abandoned in the later 1960s, although Morocco claimsWestern Sahara and the Spanishplazas de soberanía on its northern coast. Morocco's refusal to accept its post-colonial borders in the case of Western Sahara has put it on a collision course with theAfrican Union, which holds that as one of its principles. As a consequence, Morocco is the only African country to step out of the union because thePolisario Front, representing theSahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, was awarded a seat.[6]
The government ofKing Hassan II laid claim on several territories, successfully acquiring theTarfaya Strip after theIfni War with Spain, and much of the territory aroundCeuta andMelilla. Morocco also acquired much ofSpanish Sahara after Spain handed the territory to Morocco andMauritania (see theMadrid Accords). Spanish Sahara remains a disputed territory, with thePolisario Front who claim it as theSahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
In 1982, Spain entered theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization. However, Ceuta and Melilla are not under NATO protection since Article 6 of the treaty limits the coverage to Europe and North America. TheCanary Islands are protected, as they are islands north of theTropic of Cancer. Legal experts have interpreted that other articles could cover the Spanish North African cities, but that perspective has not been tested in practice.[7]
In 2002, an armed incident erupted betweenMorocco andSpain, regarding the uninhabitedPerejil Island, located 250 m off the Moroccan northern coast. On July 11, 2002 a group of Moroccan soldiers set up base on the islet and so violated the status quo situation agreed between both states. The Moroccan government said that they set foot on the island to monitorillegal immigration, which was denied by the Spanish government since there had been little co-operation in the matter, a repeated source of complaint from Spain. After protests from the Spanish government, led byJosé María Aznar, the soldiers were replaced byMoroccan navy cadets, who then installed a fixed base on the island. On the morning of July 18, 2002, Spain launched a full-scale military operation to take over the island. The operation was successful, the cadets were dislodged from the island in a matter of hours and offered no resistance to the SpanishSpecial Operations Groups commando force. The islet returned to its status quo situation and is now deserted. The episode highlighted the mediation role offered by the United States and the lack of collaboration of France towards its European allies during the crisis.[8]
In 2020, US PresidentDonald Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Morocco's sovereignty of the Western Sahara in exchange for the recognition ofIsrael by Morocco.[9][10] However, the European states did not modify their position with regard to theUnited Nations resolutions that recognise the Western Sahara as a territory yet to be decolonised.[11][12][13] That, indirectly, together with the hosting ofBrahim Gali, the leader of the Polisario, for medical treatment in Spain, was seen by Morocco as an aggression and provoked a new migratory crisis over the Spanish city ofCeuta, in North Africa. The crisis was polemic since Morocco had acted beyond the diplomatic channels, whileMoroccan police force's frontier division did not impede migrants from climbing fences or by swimming around frontier line.[14][15][16] TheSpanish Army intervened to control the trespassing, and at least two people died in the episode while they were trying to reach the shore.[17]
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