Clashes between military forces belonging to the Kingdom of Morocco and the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), represented at the United Nations by the Polisario Front, broke out in the disputed region of Western Sahara in November 2020.

Tensions between Morocco and the Polisario Front deepened in mid-October 2020 when Sahrawi peaceful protesters blocked a controversial road connecting Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara to sub-Saharan Africa.

[11] On 13 November, Morocco launched a military operation from the Berm into the demilitarized buffer strip of Western Sahara to clear the protesters near Guerguerat and restore the free movement of goods and people.

[16] Since the beginning of the conflict, both countries have begun mass mobilisation and the SADR Ministry of Defense claims to be carrying out daily bombardments on military objectives along the Moroccan Berm.

Since then, the region has been the subject of a long-running territorial dispute between Morocco, supported by a number of its prominent Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan,[21] and the Saharawi Republic (SADR), an African Union member state established by the Algerian-backed pro-independence Polisario Front, which is recognized by the United Nations as the legitimate representative of the indigenous Sahrawi people.

[41] Morocco, which regards the region as vital to trade with sub-Saharan Africa,[8] accused the Polisario Front of infiltrating the buffer zone and "carrying out acts of banditry" in Guerguerat.

[32] These protesters were later joined by a group of up to 12 Sahrawi People's Liberation Army (SPLA) fighters and 8 light vehicles, two of which had mounted heavy weapons, in violation of the ceasefire.

[50] Morocco reportedly used a Chinese-made Wing Loong Is, among a few given as a gift from the United Arab Emirates, to kill Addah al-Bendir, the chief of the Polisario head of the Gendarmerie, in April 2021.

Consequently, the SADR has been compelled to rely on outdated equipment dating back to the late 1980s and early 1990s, given that its previous arms supplier, Muammar Gaddafi, was killed in 2011.

[47] On 13 November, Sahrawi sources stated that there were mass protests in Laayoune, the unofficial capital of Western Sahara, which is de facto administered by Morocco, against the clashes.

[65] She has been under de facto house arrest since November 2020 and subject to repeated home raids and sexual assault by Moroccan security forces, as reported by a number of international human rights organizations.

[75] On 20 November, the Chairperson of the African Union and President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, wrote a letter to the United Nations Security Council that called for "all the parties to uphold the Settlement Plan, which provides for 'a cease-fire' and the holding of a referendum for the people of Western Sahara to exercise their right to self-determination.

[77] Azerbaijan,[78] Bahrain,[79] the Central African Republic,[80] Comoros,[80] the Democratic Republic of the Congo,[81] Chad,[82][83] Djibouti,[84] Equatorial Guinea,[85] Gabon,[86][84] the Gambia,[87] Haiti,[88] Jordan,[89] Kuwait,[90] Liberia,[91] Oman,[92] Qatar,[93] São Tomé and Príncipe,[80] Saudi Arabia,[94] Senegal,[95] Sierra Leone,[96] Turkey,[97] Yemen (Hadi government),[98] and the United Arab Emirates[99] voiced their support for Morocco, while Guyana withdrew its recognition of the SADR.

South Africa, Algeria and Namibia backed the Polisario Front, accused Morocco of violating the ceasefire and urged the UN to appoint a new Western Sahara envoy to restart talks.

The Islamic State released an official statement criticising Morocco and the Polisario Front for allegedly using religion to justify the use of weapons in the conflict, for which it accused both of apostasy.

[115] According to International Crisis Group's Portuguese analytic Riccardo Fabiani, the conflict could be a "potential breaking point that could have major repercussions", adding that the United Nations had been quite negligent towards this issue.