Its head was Simeon Aké, UN ambassador of the Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast); accompanying him were Marta Jiménez Martinez, a Cuban diplomat, and Manouchehr Pishva, from Iran.
In the territory, the mission encountered opposing demonstrations by the Polisario Front and the PUNS, both demanding independence, but differing in their approach to the Spanish authorities.
The results of the investigation were cited especially by the Polisario Front and its Algerian backers as supportive of their argument,[1] but the debate was largely submerged by the presentation of the opinion of the International Court of Justice on October 16.
The court argued that while there were historical ties between both Mauritania and Morocco to the tribes and lands of Spanish Sahara, neither country's claim sufficed to grant it ownership of the territory.
As a response to the ICJ verdict, King Hassan II of Morocco announced within hours of the release of the court's findings, that he would organize a Green March into Spanish Sahara to assume ownership of the territory.