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The First Battle of Amgala (1976) was fought on 27–29 January 1976 around the oasis of Amgala, Western Sahara, about west of the border with Algeria. Units from the Algerian Army were attacked by units from the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces on the night of 27 January. The Algerians withdrew after fighting for 36 hours. Spanish Sahara was one of the last colonial possessions in Africa. Morocco was fighting Spain for the liberation of this territory since 1957 after the Ifni war while Polisario Front, an organization of the local Sahrawi people, had been fighting for independence since it's foundation on 1973. The United Nations had long called for a plebiscite on the future status of the colony, but in November 1975 Spain signed an agreement under which it was split between Morocco and Mauritania with no prior referendum. By January 1976 Morocco controlled most towns in their assigned sector. Thousands of Sahrawi nomads were fleeing east to Algeria. Algeria claimed their troops were providing food and medical supplies to refugees at Amgala, while Morocco said the Algerian troops were heavily armed and were aiding Polisario. The Moroccan attack went in during the night of 27 January, and on 29 January the Algerians withdrew. The number of deaths on either side is disputed, but over 100 Algerians were taken prisoner. The two countries seemed close to war, but after intense diplomacy and one other possible encounter at Amgala in February 1976 there were no further engagements between Algerian and Moroccan troops. ==Background== The sparsely populated region of Western Sahara was formerly the Spanish colonial possession of Spanish Sahara. It was mainly inhabited by the Sahrawi people, a nomadic people of mixed Arab and Berber origin who practice Sunni Islam. In 1966 the United Nations General Assembly called on Spain to hold a plebiscite on self-determination for the territory. The United Nations reaffirmed this demand several times in the following years, the last time on 10 December 1975. In May 1973 the Polisario Front was formed to fight for independence. Algeria provided a haven for Polisario and for Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf area. Over the following years, Polisario gained control over large parts of the interior. Polisario's numbers were increased by deserters from the Spanish-led Tropas Nómadas and territorial police. Under the Madrid Accords of 14 November 1975, Spain agreed to divide the region between Morocco and Mauritania without holding a referendum. Details of the agreement were secret, but seem to have included economic concessions to Spain. The Moroccan army entered Dakhla (formerly Villa Cisneros) on 9 January 1976, and on 12 January was joined by Mauritanian troops. On that day the last Spanish Legion troops left the Western Sahara. Algeria, which had not been consulted in the Madrid Accords, had launched a campaign in support of Western Sahara self-determination. In December 1975 large numbers of Moroccans were expelled from Algeria, and Algeria began to infiltrate troops into Western Sahara. By the end of 1975 there were 20,000 Algerian soldiers in the Spanish Sahara or in the neighboring Tindouf zone. According to the Red Cross, about 40,000 refugees were fleeing eastward to escape the advancing Moroccan forces. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「First Battle of Amgala (1976)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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