officially Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Río de Oro
Sahrawi political and military group.
Initially an insurgent against Spanish control of Western Sahara , it turned to agitation against Morocco and Mauritania when the Spanish withdrew in 1976 and those two countries partitioned the country. Mauritania made peace with the group in 1979, whereupon Morocco annexed the whole territory. Polisario continued its resistance, mostly from bases in Algeria. In 1991 it agreed to a ceasefire and a referendum, which has been repeatedly postponed by Morocco, to determine the state's fate. See also Saharan Arab Democratic Republic .