Morrocco plans to give the Western Sahara more autonomy. In a speech, King Mohamed VI promised the people in this region “freedom to administer their own local affairs.”

He announced a commission would be set up to decentralise Moroccan government.

In the Western Sahara, the Polisario movement has been struggling for independence for decades.

At the end of last year, pro-independence activist Aminatou Haidar went on hunger strike for a number of weeks on the Canary island Lanzarote after Rabat refused her permission to return to the Western Sahara. Eventually she was allowed home.

Picture: Western Sahara - flickr / Western Sahara Project