RABAT, Morocco (AP) — The highest ranking U.S. diplomat for North Africa and the Middle East traveled Saturday to the city of Laayoune, which Morocco considers the capital of the Western Sahara,...

The disputed territory of Western Sahara was central to a deal announced by President Donald Trump on Thursday establishing diplomatic ties between Morocco and Israel. Here is some background on...

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — At least 27 people died when a boat carrying migrants capsized off the West African coast between Mauritania and Western Sahara, United Nations agencies said Friday....

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.’s internal oversight body says in a report on U.N. peace operations that the number of fraud cases it decided to investigate last year increased nearly 80% from...

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Moroccan authorities rescued only 14 migrants from a boat carrying 28 people that capsized off the Western Sahara coast, raising fears that the others drowned, Spain's...

MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities have issued a warning of the serious possibility of a terror attack against Spanish citizens visiting or working in the Saharawi refugee camps in the Western...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council called for "a realistic, practicable and enduring solution" to the future of the disputed Western Sahara on Wednesday, but the pro-independence...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Former German President Horst Kohler has resigned from his role as the secretary-general's personal envoy for the disputed Western Sahara, citing health reasons, the United...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Tuesday welcoming "new momentum" from the restart of talks on resolving the decades-old dispute over the mineral-rich Western...

GENEVA (AP) — U.N.-mediated talks aimed at resolving a decades-old standoff over Western Sahara failed to make headway on the key issue about how to provide for "self-determination" for the...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement are expected to meet for a second round of talks on the conflict over the mineral-rich Western Sahara, a hopeful sign following the Security Council's call last year to speed up a solution to their 43-year dispute, U.N. diplomats said Tuesday.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Wednesday welcoming stepped up efforts seeking to restart negotiations to end more than 40 years of conflict between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front over the mineral-rich Western Sahara.

The vote on the U.S.-sponsored resolution was 12-0 in favor, with Russia, Ethiopia and Bolivia abstaining. The resolution also extends the mandate of the U.N. mission in the Western Sahara until April 30, 2019.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Former German President Horst Koehler is trying to bring Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement together by the end of the year to work on a solution to the 42-year conflict over the Western Sahara, Britain's deputy U.N. ambassador said Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Friday aimed at speeding up a solution to the 42-year conflict over the Western Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement amid heightened tensions over the mineral-rich territory.

The vote on the U.S.-sponsored resolution in the 15-member council was 12-0 with Russia, China and Ethiopia abstaining.

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Morocco's government is threatening to take control of U.N.-monitored buffer zones in Western Sahara amid concerns that the mission is failing to keep out Polisario Front independence fighters.

The warning Sunday came as U.N. Security Council members received Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' annual report on the situation in Western Sahara and the 27-year-old U.N. peacekeeping mission in the mineral-rich territory claimed by both Morocco and the Polisario.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is urging Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement to refrain from actions that could affect the cease-fire in their 42-year conflict over the Western Sahara, pointing to an escalating dispute over a buffer zone.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's top court ruled Tuesday that a fisheries agreement the bloc has concluded with Morocco can't include the waters off the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

The European Court of Justice said that the "Moroccan fishing zone" referred to in the pact "does not include the waters adjacent to the territory of Western Sahara."

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's fisheries agreement with Morocco has been cast into doubt after a top legal advisor said Wednesday that the pact is invalid because it does not respect the rights of people in the disputed Western Sahara region.

In an opinion for the European Court of Justice, Advocate General Melchior Wathelet said Western Sahara's people have a right to self-determination and possible sovereignty over natural resources there.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Western Sahara's top diplomat on Tuesday called on African countries to sanction Morocco after it failed to attend an African Union meeting on the disputed territory.

The call for sanctions comes less than two months after Morocco rejoined the AU, which it left decades ago because the continental body in 1984 recognized Western Sahara as the independent Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Morocco claims the territory as its "southern provinces."

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Morocco is applying to join the Economic Community of West African States, the bloc confirmed Tuesday, a move that some analysts see as a continuation of checkbook diplomacy to consolidate the North African kingdom's claim on Western Sahara.

Morocco's application will be considered at the next summit of 15 member states in July, ECOWAS chairman Marcel de Souza said in a statement.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. political chief says the secretary-general's personal envoy for the disputed Western Sahara has offered his resignation.

Jeffrey Feltman told reporters Monday that U.N. chief Antonio Guterres will act on the resignation offer from Christopher Ross "at a time when he sees fit."

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations is welcoming the pullout of Moroccan security forces from the tense border strip in southern Western Sahara and is calling on the Polisario Front independence movement to also withdraw its fighters.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to Morocco's King Mohammed VI and a Polisario representative late last week.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Polisario Front said Tuesday that since Morocco has rejoined the African Union and accepted the group's principles it must recognize Western Sahara's independence — or it could face possible sanctions or even requests to leave the regional organization.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Western Sahara and African Union sources have told the Associated Press that Morocco has officially been admitted back in to the continental body after 32 years of isolation.

The decision for Morocco to rejoin the AU came Monday at the African leaders summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's highest court said Wednesday that EU agreements on closer ties and trade with Morocco should not apply to the disputed Western Sahara region, a decision that the Polisario Front independence movement claimed as a victory.

The Moroccan government also welcomed the decision, saying it will allow resumed trade negotiations with the EU after a year of diplomatic tensions.

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria and Morocco have agreed to build a pipeline to carry Nigerian natural gas to North Africa and Europe in a major initiative to boost energy production across West Africa and create industrial hubs to attract foreign investment, a joint statement said Wednesday.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. peacekeeping chief said Tuesday he is heading to the disputed Western Sahara later this week to visit U.N. troops for the first time since Morocco expelled more than 70 U.N. civilian staffers in March to protest comments by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Polisario Front independence movement is warning that it is closer to resuming confrontation with Morocco over the disputed Western Sahara than to peace.

Ould Salek, the movement's foreign relations chief, urgently appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to hold the referendum on the future of Western Sahara promised in a 1991 cease-fire agreement with Morocco.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — In a story Sept. 23 about Morocco requesting to re-join the African Union, The Associated Press reported erroneously the year that Morocco left the AU. It left in 1984, not 1975.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Morocco asks to re-join African Union after 3 decades

The African Union says Morocco has officially submitted a request to join the continental body after more than three decades

BRUSSELS (AP) — A judge says that European Union agreements on closer ties and trade with Morocco shouldn't apply to Western Sahara amid tensions over the disputed territory.

Advocate General Melchior Wathelet said in a legal opinion Tuesday that Western Sahara isn't a part of Morocco, and EU member countries have never recognized the north African country's sovereignty over the territory.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Polisario Front movement seeking independence for the disputed Western Sahara accused Morocco on Tuesday of violating a 1991 cease-fire agreement by sending troops and equipment into the territory.

Morocco's Interior Ministry said security forces and customs officials have been carrying out an operation near the Mauritania border aimed at dismantling "smuggling rings and illegal commercial trade" in the area.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara is not fully operational four months after Morocco expelled most civilian staff members to protest U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's use of the word "occupation" to describe the status of the disputed territory, the Security Council said Tuesday.

Japan's U.N. Ambassador Koro Bessho, the current council president, said members welcomed progress in returning civilian staff and expressed "strong hope" that the...

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Morocco has formally written to the African Union requesting to rejoin the continent-wide organization more than three decades after it left in protest over Western Sahara.

The request was included in a written speech signed by King Mohammed VI of Morocco and addressed to AU members.

Morocco withdrew from the Organization of African Unity, the African Union's precursor, in 1984 in protest over the admission to the organization of the Sahrawi...