Algeria–Morocco relations had been strained since Algeria's independence in 1962, culminating in the Sand war, and a lack of normalized relations.[citation needed] Algeria, after initially supporting Morocco and Mauritania in their demands, started in 1975 to support the independence of the territory.[citation needed] Algeria officially supported the right of self-determination of the people of the former Spanish colony, as it had supported the right of self-determination of the peoples of the rest of the African colonized countries. The Polisario Front, created in 1973, engaged in several attacks against Spanish garrisons and patrols, and also attacked the Fosbucraa conveyor belt, which exported the rich local phosphates to the El Marsa port.