Southern Provinces

The Southern Provinces or Moroccan Sahara are the terms used by the Moroccan government for Western Sahara. These two official Moroccan denominations explicitly include all of Western Sahara, however this article will focus on the part of the Western Sahara under effective Moroccan control. The Moroccan government prefers the term "Southern Provinces" for its geographical obviousness, and because of the sensitivity of the word "Sahara" in Morocco^{[citation needed]}. A frequent use of the term "Southern Provinces" is found for example in Moroccan state TV (weather forecasts, displayed maps on the news, government statements,...etc.).

The Moroccan government controls and administrates about two thirds of Western Sahara (the part west of the Moroccan military berm) and all the oceanic coasts of Western Sahara, government and private companies exploit coastal areas for fishing and the land areas for phosphate mining. The Polisario Front controls the remaining third, which is isolated from the ocean, mostly empty of any population, dry, and unfit for conventional urbanization or any basic economic activity^{[citation needed]}.

The two thirds of Western Sahara that are controlled by Morocco are treated by the government as normal Moroccan territory. The government conducts various economic and social development programs and includes these "Southern Provinces" in the national budget of government funding, national sport competitions, education programs, and national parliamentary elections. Following the Green March and the Madrid Accords signed with Spain and Mauritania in 1975, Morocco took control of Saguia el-Hamra, and the northern part of Rio de Oro, while Mauritania took control of the remaining part of Rio de Oro, renamed as Tiris al-Gharbiyya.

TEXT FROM WIKIPEDIA, cba SOME RIGHTS RESERVED.