House spending bill repudiates Morocco on Western Sahara
The political wrangling over President Donald Trump’s border wall has dealt Morocco an unwelcome setback.
The US House of Representatives just passed a bill repudiating Morocco’s occupation of the Western Sahara, long the subject of a tug of war between the House and the Senate. The new language is an important — but largely symbolic — win for the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which advocates for independence.
As a result of the ongoing government shutdown, House Democrats used their new majority to pass a spending bill last week in a mostly party-line vote with language that originated in the Republican-held Senate last year. That language treats the disputed Western Sahara as a sovereign entity, dealing a blow to Morocco.
