 Although advocated by Gaddafi and Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, the move was deeply unpopular in Tunisia, and it was soon abandoned.Retaliating, Gaddafi sponsored anti-government militants in Tunisia into the 1980s.Turning his attention to Algeria, in 1975 Libya signed the Hassi Messaoud defensive alliance allegedly to counter alleged "Moroccan expansionism", also funding the Polisario Front of Western Sahara in its independence struggle against Morocco.