The Court nevertheless finds no territorial-sovereignty ties with Morocco or the Mauritanian entity that could affect application of self-determination. It maintains the requirement for the free and genuine expression of the populations’ will.
Rabat stresses recognition of historical ties and bay‘a; independence advocates stress the conclusion on sovereignty and self-determination. Both elements belong to the same opinion. This is an advisory opinion: it assigns the territory neither to a Sahrawi republic that had not yet been proclaimed nor to Morocco. Reading it in full is essential to understanding the enduring legal disagreement.