On this day in ...... 1975 (35 years ago today), the Madrid Accords were signed by Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania. By the terms of this treaty respecting the region now known as Western Sahara, Spain agreed to withdraw from its former colonial holding no later than February 28, 1976. Following governance by a transitional tripartite administration, administrative control was to be ceded to Morocco and Mauritania, 2 countries that each had wanted to annex the entire territory. As we've posted, the region came under Moroccan military control the same year that the Accords were signed, and the status of Western Sahara remains in dispute to this day.
