The military wing of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), Polisario was founded in 1973 to fight colonial rule by the Spanish fascist regime of Francisco Franco. Eighty percent of the territory is controlled by tens of thousands of Moroccan troops behind a 2,700-km (1,700 mi) sand wall separating Moroccan-controlled areas to the west from a Polisario-controlled area to the east, the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.Īdditionally, for the past 40 years, an estimated 175,000 Sahrawis have lived in four camps of mud-brick and canvas across the border in the south of Algeria, Polisario’s traditional military backer. Mainly desert, it has a population of about 500,000. Western Sahara is a former Spanish colonial territory established at the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884 to divide Africa into colonial spheres of influence. In an official statement, King Mohammed VI warned that Morocco “remains firmly determined to react, with the greatest severity, and in self-defence, against any threat to its security.” Sidi Omar, the Polisario Front’s representative to the U.N., said of Rabat’s action: “For us, it is an open war.” The Sahara Press Service claimed Polisario had launched attacks for five consecutive days against the Royal Moroccan Army in the Western Sahara, “causing loss of lives and equipment and disrupting its military plans.” “War has started, the Moroccan side has liquidated the ceasefire,” senior Polisario official Mohamed Salem Ould Salek told AFP. They were to discuss preparations for next year’s African Lion military exercise, the largest training exercise involving US troops in Africa.Ī Polisario tank division 2012 (Credit: Wikimedia Commons) This deployment took place hours after US Major General Andrew Rohling met in Agadir with Lieutenant General Belkhir El Farouk, Commander of the Southern Zone of Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces, which includes occupied Western Sahara. Rabat reacted instead by deploying a brigade of 1,000 men accompanied by 200 vehicles to the region, violating the terms of the ceasefire. They were demanding Morocco close a road in the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone and calling for the release of political prisoners. The fighting puts an end to a 1991 ceasefire, risking war between Morocco and Algeria in a region that is a powder keg after US and European imperialism started wars in Libya and Mali.įor the past three weeks, dozens of Sahrawi protesters had blocked the Guerguerat border crossing, cutting trade and traffic between Morocco and Mauritania to the south. ![]() Fighting between Moroccan military forces and the Polisario Front (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro) has broken out after Rabat sent troops to reopen a highway linking Morocco, the Western Sahara and Mauritania that was occupied by protesters.
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