Political status of Western Sahara

Western Sahara is claimed and administered by Morocco since Spain abandoned the territory in 1976, but sovereignty is unresolved and the United Nations is attempting to hold a referendum on the issue through the mission MINURSO. The UN-administered cease-fire has been in effect since September 1991.

State	Date of recognition	Notes
Madagascar	February 28, 1976	"Froze" recognition June 4, 2005
Burundi	March 1, 1976
Algeria	March 6, 1976
Angola	March 11, 1976
Benin	March 11, 1976	Cancelled March 21, 1997
Mozambique	March 13, 1976
Guinea-Bissau	March 15, 1976	Cancelled April 2, 1997
North Korea	March 16, 1976
Togo	March 17, 1976	Cancelled June, 1997
Rwanda	April 1, 1976
South Yemen	February 2, 1977	It is unknown whether diplomatic recognition is extended by the government of Yemen.
Seychelles	October 25, 1977
Republic of Congo	June 3, 1978	Cancelled September 13, 1996
São Tomé and Príncipe	June 22, 1978	Cancelled October 23, 1996
Panama	June 23, 1978
Equatorial Guinea	November 3, 1978	Cancelled May, 1980
Tanzania	November 9, 1978
Ethiopia	February 24, 1979
Vietnam	March 2, 1979
Cambodia	April 10, 1979
Laos	May 9, 1979
Afghanistan	May 23, 1979	Cancelled July 12, 2002
Cape Verde	July 4, 1979
Grenada	August 20, 1979
Ghana	August 24, 1979	Cancelled May, 2001
Guyana	September 1, 1979
Dominica	September 1, 1979	Cancelled
St. Lucia	September 1, 1979	Cancelled March, 1989
Jamaica	September 4, 1979
Uganda	September 6, 1979
Nicaragua	September 6, 1979	Cancelled July 21, 2000
Mexico	September 8, 1979
Lesotho	October 9, 1979
Zambia	October 12, 1979
Cuba	January 20, 1980
Iran	February 27, 1980
Sierra Leone	March 27, 1980	Relations "frozen" c. 2002-2003 (exact date not available)
Syria	April 15, 1980
Libya	April 15, 1980
Swaziland	April 28, 1980	Cancelled June, 1997
Botswana	May 14, 1980
Zimbabwe	July 3, 1980
Chad	July 4, 1980	Cancelled May 9, 1997
Mali	July 4, 1980	Recognition has not been withdrawn but relations are essentially frozen
Costa Rica	October 30, 1980	Cancelled April, 2000
Vanuatu	November 27, 1980	Cancelled November, 2000
Papua New Guinea	August 12, 1981
Tuvalu	August 12, 1981	Cancelled September 15, 2000
Kiribati	August 12, 1981	Cancelled September 15, 2000
Nauru	August 12, 1981	Cancelled September 15, 2000
Solomon Islands	August 12, 1981	Cancelled January, 1989
Mauritius	July 1, 1982
Venezuela	August 3, 1982
Suriname	August 11, 1982
Bolivia	December 14, 1982
Ecuador	November 14, 1983	Cancelled June 19, 2004
Mauritania	February 27, 1984
Burkina Faso	March 4, 1984	Cancelled June 5, 1996
Peru	August 16, 1984	Suspended relations, October, 1996
Nigeria	November 12, 1984
Yugoslavia	November 28, 1984	Cancelled by the government of Serbia and Montenegro, October 28, 2004.
Colombia	February 27, 1985	Cancelled
Liberia	July 31, 1985	Cancelled September, 1997
India	October 1, 1985	Cancelled June 26, 2000
Guatemala	April 10, 1986	Cancelled April, 1998. In 2002, Guatemala denied ever having recognised the SADR [1]
Dominican Republic	June 24, 1986	Relations "frozen" on May 23, 2002
Trinidad and Tobago	November 1, 1986
Belize	November 18, 1986
St. Kitts and Nevis	February 25, 1987
Antigua and Barbuda	February 27, 1987
Albania	December 29, 1987	Cancelled November 9, 2004
Barbados	February 27, 1988
El Salvador	July 31, 1989	Cancelled April, 1997
Honduras	November 8, 1989	Cancelled January, 2000
Namibia	June 2, 1990
Malawi	November 16, 1994	Cancelled June, 2001
Paraguay	February 9, 2000	Cancelled May, 2000
East Timor	2002?	SADR was the first country to be given an embassy in East Timor
South Africa	September 15, 2004
Kenya	June 25, 2005

Furthermore, Western Sahara is a full member of the African Union (formerly the Organisation of African Unity) as the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.

See also

• Foreign relations of Morocco.
• Polisario