[Dinoso]

One key motivator for Morocco to seek alternatives to Oil, is it's neighbor and arch enemy Algeria. Think of it like USA vs Russia and their race to be the Nr 1. All the advancement in telecommunication, Space, Robotics..etc are partly due to this race. Algeria actively supports separatists in the Sahara (Polisario front) for independence. Algeria was a very rich country until the recent demise of Oil price. Morocco has to compete with a neighbor with a very big budget and a military that is buying more and more sophisticated equipment and arsenal. Alternatives had to be found. So for energy, independence is a must have for Morocco, dictated by a geo-political environment that is not stable and very volatile.

[adventured]

Algeria was not a very rich country before the drop in oil prices, even though they had certainly climbed a long ways during the ten year oil boom.

Their GDP per capita is around #100 in the world. It ranks below Jamaica, Serbia, Fiji, Namibia, Angola, Iraq, etc.

Their total GDP, pre oil drop, ranked them around #50 in the world, but they're #34 in population.

Before the oil drop they were a lower middle nation in terms of wealth, nowhere near rich.

[Dinoso]

Sorry, I didn't mean to say they were a rich country, but had the means to advance rapidly compared to other third world countries. Algeria had 186B$ of cash and was debt free. It even lent 5B$ to the IMF[1].

[1] http://finance.yahoo.com/news/algeria-contribute-5b-imf-1846...

[smcl]

I think compared to other nearby Sahara/Sahel countries, they were relatively rich

[nextos]

Technically Sahara is still independent and Spain the official colonial administrator. It's a very tricky situation.

[AtlasLion]

that is the biggest pile of steaming BS I have ever heard. Morocco is in control of all of the Sahara west of the buffer area. People in the Sahara have moroccan ID cards, vote for Moroccan elections (they just voted for locals where they participated more than other parts of Morocco). Edit: another factor is this is near Ouarzazate, no where near the (Moroccan) Western Sahara.

[nextos]

That's the de facto situation, whereas I was referring to the de jure one. Ouarzazate is nowhere near Western Sahara, but I was just clarifying the parent comment.

[AtlasLion]

even then, there is no more involvement of Spain for almost 40 years.

[jcranmer]

The UN's Committee of Decolonization disagrees: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_list_of_Non-Sel....

Of course, that's only the most egregious controversy on that list, as you'd see if you scroll up a bit on that page to read the Criticism section.

[icebraining]

I don't see where that conflicts with the previous claim. In particular, it's telling that the Manhasset negotiations didn't involve a Spanish delegation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhasset_negotiations

[pjc50]

I don't think the situation in WS is quite that simple: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14115273

[AtlasLion]

it is, I am talking about the actual situation not PLANS. Morocco DOES control everything west of the buffer zones and the population in there DOES have Moroccan national ID cards and they DO vote.

Edit: from the article "Western Sahara fell under Spanish rule in 1884". Because history started in 1884. Western Sahara was for Many centuries part of Morocco, it was not a country by modern standards, but local tribes did recognise reign of the Moroccan kings. there was never a "western Sahara kingdom"

Mohammed Abdelaziz, the long time leader (talk about democracy) of the Polisario camps in Algeria, was born in Marrakech, Morocco, and studied at Mohammed V University in Rabat.

[6t6t6]

No only that. Apparently, Sahrawi people don't have much interest in being part of Morocco. I guess that that counts too.