The United Nations has convened a new round of talks between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Western Saharan liberation movement known as the Polisario Front, aimed at resolving the 43-year-old conflict. Morocco has occupied Western Sahara since 1975, and no other country on Earth recognizes its sovereignty over the territory. Thousands of Western Sahara’s indigenous people—the Sahrawi—have since been tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared while resisting the Moroccan occupation. On Wednesday, Moroccan authorities assaulted a peaceful assembly of women in the streets of the Western Saharan capital Laayoune as they demonstrated in favor of a referendum on the status of the territory. Two years ago, Democracy Now! was able to break the Moroccan media blockade and report from Western Sahara; you can go to our website at democracynow.org to watch our special report, “Four Days in Western Sahara: Africa’s Last Colony.”