the polisario front (, transliterates to "", translates to "popular front for the liberation of el hamra and río de oro") is a rebel militia group and political party, which is active in western sahara. the movement succeeded the older movement called "movimiento para la liberación del sahara", which was active until the 1960s. the movement was founded in the early 1970s. it was first active fighting for the independence of the spanish sahara, which was a spanish colony until 1975. after the spanish left, mauritania and morocco annexed the western sahara, the polisario, however, claimed the entire western sahara under the sahrawi arab democratic republic.