RABAT - McDonald's is to open a fast food restaurant in Laayoune in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The US fast food chain is to open a sales point in Piazza Dcheira, in a region first contended by the Spanish and then by the Polisario Front fighting for the independence of the Saharawi that contests the region's annexation by Rabat in 1976.
Local council president Hamdi Ould Errachid says negotiations are complete and that he is waiting for the green light for work to begin. McDonald's already has around 40 restaurants in Morocco and plans to open others at the main motorway service stations. The opening of a sales point in Laayoune has already created expectations, with some seeing it as recognition that the disputed territory belongs to the Kingdom of Morocco.
