(MENAFN) During a speech on Sunday as he met with African leaders in Senegal, Morocco's King Mohammed VI declared that his country was ready to "take back its natural position in Africa".
In detail, his speech marked the 41st anniversary of the 1975 Green March, when Moroccan protestors and troops marched into the Western Sahara in an attempt to force Spain to hand over the disputed territory.
In a gesture of African solidarity, Mohammed VI delivered this annual speech from outside of Morocco for the first time to "show the great interest we take in our continent," while emphasising the "unshakeable Moroccan identity of the Western Sahara".
The Green March quickly spiralled into a fully-fledged war between Morocco and Western Saharan militias from the Polisario movement " a conflict that would last 16 years and ended with victory for the kingdom.
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