Clashes Erupt Between Algeria and Polisario Front, Straining Long-Standing Alliance

Clashes have occurred between the Algerian army and members of the Polisario Front in recent days. "The incident took place in the Boujdour camp, which represents a kind of border between the territories controlled by the Front and the Algerian city of Tindouf," we learn. "Sahrawi drug traffickers, pursued by Polisario gendarmerie elements, took refuge with the Algerian gendarmes. The Sahrawis demanded that the Algerians hand over the traffickers to them. Faced with their refusal, the situation degenerated and the two camps used their service weapons." The clashes are said to have resulted in several casualties on both sides.

This armed confrontation would be part of a power struggle between powerful Sahrawis - benefiting from the protection of senior Polisario officials - and Algerian security officials for control of the drug trade in the Tindouf camps. In the past, there have already been tensions between Algeria and the Polisario Front. In December 1986, an armed confrontation between the two parties in Tindouf had been reported. But the details remained limited and the circumstances were never fully elucidated. For now, no official statement has been issued by the Algerian government or the Polisario Front regarding the recent clashes in Tindouf.

Before these clashes, an attack on Sahrawi students occurred in a university residence in Annaba, in northeastern Algeria. Algerian students are said to have assaulted a group of Sahrawi students, reports La Razón. These two events lead some analysts to believe that Algeria could withdraw its support for the Polisaro. "We have always warned that the Polisario is nothing more than a time bomb on Algerian territory. The continued support of the Algerian state for this entity has become a particularly heavy burden, especially with the increase in popular discontent in the face of the policy of supporting the Sahrawis," comments the Algerian journalist Walid Kabir, head of the Maghreb Association for Peace, Cooperation and Development. According to him, these events are not surprising.