Relationship dossier
Mauritania
Western Sahara
Relationship assessment
Mauritania relinquished its claim to part of Western Sahara in 1979; the territory remains disputed.
Mauritania toward Western Sahara
+20Mauritania relinquished its claim to the territory's southern portion in a 1979 agreement with the Polisario Front, ending its involvement in the conflict as a claimant.
Western Sahara toward Mauritania
Not assessedOverall relationship
Not assessedHow to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Mauritania ended its territorial claim to the southern part of Western Sahara through a 1979 agreement with the Polisario Front. Western Sahara remains disputed and is not governed as a single sovereign state, so a reciprocal government-to-government relationship cannot be assessed on the same basis.
Key developments
Mauritania signed an agreement with the Polisario Front renouncing its claim to the southern part of Western Sahara.
Major uncertainties
- The practical scope of Mauritania's later diplomatic relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is unclear.
- The extent of direct Sahrawi authorities' engagement with Mauritania is unclear.