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Article: Polisario Raid Shows Fragility Of Morocco's Hold on Territory;11-Year Stalemate on Former Spanish Sahara Continues
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- February 27, 1987
- Author:
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Polisario guerrillas today celebrated the 11th anniversary of
their Algerian-backed Saharawi Republic by attacking Moroccan troops
in what both sides agreed was the fiercest battle in the disputed
Western Sahara for two years.
Despite conflicting and fragmentary accounts of the fighting that
began yesterday near Mahbes in the eastern sector of the desolate
former Spanish colony, analysts and foreign diplomats generally
credited the guerrillas with a psychological victory in their
struggle for the territory.
Only 10 days ago reports said Morocco had begun construction of
the final stretch of an already more than 1,000 mile-long defensive
sand wall designed to keep all but light Polisario ...