Western Sahara is ‘a forgotten country’. It is a thorny issue for 2030 World Cup co-hosts Morocco

“Ali Radjel’s teeth are stained yellow and brown but he does not mind showing them because it gives him an opportunity to talk about the disputed territory he represents as a footballer. Dentists in Spain, where Radjel now lives, have told him the discolouration is a consequence of drinking too much salt water (fluoride) as a child in Tindouf, a refugee camp associated with Western Sahara, a region also known as the last colony of Africa. He says many of his friends from the same camp have this problem: ‘It is like a tattoo — it tells everyone, ‘We come from the desert… where it is hard to survive…’ …He loves Spain for giving him a future, but he longs for Western Sahara, even though he has never been able to truly call it home. Spain withdrew from the territory after 92 years of control in 1975, transferring power initially to Morocco, located to the north, and Mauritania to the south. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

A truck passes by a hilltop manned by Moroccan soldiers on a road between Morocco and Mauritania in Guerguerat, Western Sahara, in 2020.