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Morocco attracts tens of millions of tourists every year.

Tourists block to see the iconic mosques and bazaars.

But there's another much larger structure that you won't find in any tourist skies and is seldom talked about.

It's a 2,700 kilometer long barrier wall, constructed of dirt and brick that runs through the

hearts of the Sahara Desert and for the people living in its

shadow it's a symbol of an ongoing occupation in this episode I speak with Jacob Mundi, professor from Colgate University, an expert on the subject of Morocco's illegal decades long occupation of Western Sahara, and the refugee crisis it created that now spans generations.

Jacob your book Western Sahara, War, Nationalism and Conflict Resolution, which you co-authored with

Stephen Zunes, covers Western Sahara extensively.

Going back to the beginning of the story though as it were, the country had been at Spanish

colony for a long time up until the mid-70s, at which point neighbouring Mauritania and Morocco, both attempted to invade the country

and to their territory.

I was wondering if this was a situation as we still incuate or World War II in Poland or more recently with Russia and Ukraine,

where these countries claimed to have some kind of historical toys.

In 1974 Spain finally announced that they were going to hold a referendum on decolonization

and they were going to leave this colony that they'd held on to longer than most other colonies in Africa.

The immediate response of Mauritania Morocco, which had both put forward historical claims to the territory.

Morocco when it became independent in 1956

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