King Hassan II of Morocco informed the French press in December 1988 that he was willing to talk to the Frente Popular para la Liberacidn de Saguia el-Hamra y Rio de Oro, known as the Polisario Front, which had been waging a war of national independence during the previous 15 years. Although the Moroccan Sovereign insisted that the subsequent meetings which took place on 4-5 January 1989 in Marrakesh constituted ‘discussions’ rather than ‘negotiations’, they undoubtedly represented a breakthrough in what has been dubbed by many as the ‘forgotten war’, not least because the mere acknowledgement of the Front’s existence was in itself a de facto recognition of the Sahrawi liberation movement.
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Source: Cambridge University Press
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