Morocco Expands Military Control in Western Sahara, Tensions with Polisario Front Persist

Guerguerat, a 50-kilometer extension of the defense wall in Touizgui, Assa-Zag province, the closure of a former Polisario Front infiltration point, located in the Ouarkziz mountains, on the Moroccan-Algerian border... With the Royal Armed Forces (FAR), Morocco is not only securing the southern borders but is also striving to reconquer "points considered as liberated zones by the Polisario" in the Sahara.

"This is a very important strategy aimed at reconquering the points considered as liberated zones by the Polisario," says Bachir Dkhil, a founding member of the Polisario, who joined the ranks of Morocco in the early 1990s, to Jeune Afrique. According to several military experts, the next step would be the expansion of the Tifariti belt to Amgala, areas regularly claimed by the kingdom.

By securing these liberated zones, Morocco also intends to reduce arms, drug trafficking and illegal immigration networks. "If Morocco manages to ensure stability and peace in this region, it will be a great victory over terrorism and immigration. The resolution of the situation in the Sahel and more broadly in Libya also depends on the Moroccan defense wall," explains Bachir Dkhil.

On the ground, exchanges of fire between the FAR and the militiamen of the independence movement continue. The Sahara issue is raising tensions between Morocco and the Polisario, protected by Algeria.