First Battle of Amgala (1976)

First Battle of Amgala (1976)
Part of Western Sahara War
Date 27–29 January 1976 Location Amgala, Western Sahara 26°26′48″N 11°30′53″W / 26.44667°N 11.51472°W / 26.44667; -11.51472Coordinates: 26°26′48″N 11°30′53″W / 26.44667°N 11.51472°W / 26.44667; -11.51472 Result Moroccan victory; Algerian retreat from Amgala.
Belligerents
Morocco	Algeria
Strength
unknown	1 battalion of 400 men
Casualties and losses
2 killed, 14 wounded 400 killed (Algerian claim);	200 killed, 102 to 109 captured
Location within Western Sahara

The First Battle of Amgala (1976) was fought on 27–29 January 1976 around the oasis of Amgala, Western Sahara, about 260 kilometres (160 mi) 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 had been 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 its 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.

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.