Agreement

Madrid Agreement on Western Sahara, 1975

· Madrid

Spain, Morocco and Mauritania agreed that Spain’s administration would pass to a temporary tripartite administration and that Spain would leave by February 1976.

What happened

The Declaration of Principles transferred Spain’s powers to a temporary tripartite administration and set the end of the Spanish presence for February 1976.[1][2] In 2002 the UN Legal Counsel concluded that it transferred neither sovereignty nor the status of administering Power and left the Territory’s status as a Non-Self-Governing Territory unchanged.[1]

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

  1. 1.

    Claim: Under a Declaration of Principles concluded in Madrid on 14 November 1975 by Spain, Morocco and Mauritania, Spain’s powers as administering Power were transferred to a temporary tripartite administration and the Spanish presence was to end by 28 February 1976; the UN Legal Counsel concluded in 2002 that it transferred neither sovereignty nor the status of administering Power, and did not affect the Territory’s status as a Non-Self-Governing Territory. Attributed to UN Legal Counsel (2002)

    • United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, Letter dated 29 January 2002 from the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, the Legal Counsel, addressed to the President of the Security Council (United Nations, 12 February 2002) link, para. 6, p. 2. Source record
    • Permanent Mission of Spain to the United Nations, Letter dated 26 February 1976 from the Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (United Nations, 26 February 1976) link, p. 2. Government perspective or primary official source Source record
  2. 2.

    Claim: On 26 February 1976 Spain told the Secretary-General that it had definitively ended its presence in the Territory, considered itself exempt from any international responsibility for its administration, and that decolonisation would culminate when the views of the Saharan population had been validly expressed.

    • Permanent Mission of Spain to the United Nations, Letter dated 26 February 1976 from the Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (United Nations, 26 February 1976) link, pp. 2–3. Government perspective or primary official source Source record

Source note

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