Thus the Court has not found legal ties of such a nature as might affect the application of resolution 1514 (XV) in the decolonization of Western Sahara and, in particular, of the principle of self-determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the peoples of the Territory (ICJ Reports 16 October 1975, 162).

[3] The Moroccan nationalists supported the idea of a Greater Morocco, based upon the territory of the Sharifian empire which preceded French and British colonization.

Following the establishment of the Special Committee on Decolonization, the Spanish Sahara was included in 1963 in the preliminary list of territories to which the declaration on the granting of independence to colonial peoples and countries applied, and from that year on the question of Western Sahara had been regularly considered by the Special Committee and in the General Assembly.

[4] On 20 December 1966, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2229[5] called on Spain to hold a referendum on self-determination in the territory.

[citation needed] In December, Spain agreed to delay the referendum pending the opinion of the court, and supported submission to the World Court so long as the decision would be non-binding and advisory only, rather than a "contentious issue", where the ruling would oblige the affected states to act in a particular manner.

][citation needed] UN General Assembly Resolution 3292[1] requested that the International Court give an advisory opinion on the following questions: I.

Was Western Sahara (Río de Oro and Sakiet El Hamra) at the time of colonization by Spain a territory belonging to no one (terra nullius)?And, should the majority opinion be "no", the following would be addressed: II.

From 12 to 19 May, a small investigative team made of citizens from Cuba, Iran, and Côte d'Ivoire was sent into the region to assess public support for independence.

Spain argued against Moroccan sovereignty, citing the relationship that Spanish explorers and colonizers had established with the sultan, none of which ever recognized his authority over the region.

Algeria also defended the position that the Sahrawis were a distinct people[citation needed], and not under the subjection of Morocco or Mauritania.

On 15 October, a UN visiting mission sent by the General Assembly to tour the region and investigate the political situation published its findings, showing that the Sahrawi population were "overwhelmingly" in favor of independence from both Spain and Morocco/Mauritania.

While Morocco and Mauritania found in the answers to the two questions a recognition that their claims are legitimate and historically based, Algeria and the Polisario Front focused on the penultimate paragraph that stated that the court's decision was not to hinder the application of self-determination through the ongoing Spanish referendum.

Algeria sent its troops into the territory of Western Sahara to help in the logistics of the evacuation of the Sahrawi refugees who have been bombarded by Moroccan air forces, which led to the first and last direct military confrontation between units of the Moroccan armed forces and the Algerian national army in the First Battle of Amgala (1976).