Western Sahara
Western Sahara was not terra nullius at the time of Spanish colonisation, and the legal ties with Morocco and Mauritania were not such as to affect the right of its people to self determination.
Facts
Western Sahara was a Spanish colony, which was due to be decolonised. Morocco and Mauritania claimed that the territory had belonged to them before Spanish colonisation in 1884. The United Nations General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice whether Western Sahara was terra nullius at the time of colonisation, and, if not, what legal ties existed between the territory and Morocco and Mauritania.
Legal principle
The International Court of Justice advised that Western Sahara was not terra nullius at the time of colonisation by Spain, because it was inhabited by peoples who, although nomadic, were socially and politically organised under chiefs competent to represent them. There were legal ties of allegiance between the Sultan of Morocco and some of the tribes, and rights relating to land between the Mauritanian entity and the territory, but these did not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty, so they did not affect the application of the principle of self determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the peoples of the territory. Morocco later occupied most of the territory, and its status remains disputed.
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