The dispute over Western Sahara dates back to 1975 and is the oldest territorial dispute in Africa. Western Sahara had been a Spanish colony since 1884. Although Spain ceded the territory in 1975, Western Sahara failed to gain national independence. Instead, Mauritania and Morocco filled the void and Mauritania ceded its claims to Morocco in 1976. Nationalists in the region responded by forming the Polisario in 1973. Supported by the Algerian government, which maintains a long-standing rivalry with Morocco, the Polisario waged guerrilla warfare against the Moroccan occupiers and to date, the conflict between the Polisario and Morocco remains unresolved. In April 1991, the United Nations established MINURSO, the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara. Its goal was to implement a peace plan outlined in a 1990 Security Council resolution and negotiate a ceasefire. Although the ceasefire was respected, the mission was never fully deployed and negotiations have been at a standstill since 2004, after the resignation of UN special envoy James Baker. The Polisario believes that the status of Western Sahara should be determined by its people, but Morocco claims this territory as its own. The Western Sahara conflict deserves global attention because it has caused the displacement of thousands of people and many deaths. There are numerous reports of violence and human rights violations in the territory. For example, citizens of Western Sahara can demonstrate but the police often disperse them violently. Europe and the United States are concerned that the conflict is deteriorating relations between Morocco and Algeria and preventing them from working together against Islamist violence. Moreover, the eight Millennium Development Goals must partly satisfy both parties and to some extent do not meet their demands. For example, I would recommend that the UN propose that Western Sahara be like a special administrative region like Hong Kong and Macau, including the right to maintain its own government, its own system and manage its own internal affairs. A special administrative region stipulates that the territory will control everything except national defense and foreign affairs. I believe that this proposal will meet the requirements of both parties because the territory of Western Sahara will function as a separate customs territory, but foreign affairs and defense will be the responsibility of Morocco. Still according to the fundamental law of a special administrative region, the Moroccan army cannot interfere in the local affairs of the territory and an elected local government will be responsible for maintaining public order..