[1] The Polisario Front was formally established on 10 May 1973 under the leadership of El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed at Ain Ben Tlili by several young Sahrawis who were principally educated in Morocco and conscious of Third World liberation movements.

[2] The Sahrawi People's Liberation Army (SPLA) began an armed rebellion against Spanish rule on the same day, and it gained support from Libya.

[3] The Polisario Front was determined to gain total independence by mid-1974, and its growing support neutralized the Djema'a and pro-Spanish Sahrawi National Union Party (PUNS).

[5] The Spanish government began to negotiate prisoner releases and considered plans to hand over authority to the Polisario Front in exchange for long-term fishing and phosphate privileges.

This prompted roughly a thousand Sahrawi soldiers to collect their weapons and defect to the Polisario Front, which had no more than a couple hundred trained men with arms.