Morocco-Polisario Tensions Escalate in Western Sahara Conflict

"Accusing Morocco of having broken the ceasefire, when the latter was de facto violated by the Sahrawi separatists since their illegal implantation in Guerguerat, amounts to confusing the firefighter with the arsonist," writes François Soudan. He recalls the latest events that occurred in the Guerguerat buffer zone. Brahim Ghali, 74, "President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces" of the Polisario Front declared on November 13 the "state of war" and the "resumption of hostilities" following the unblocking by the Royal Armed Forces of the Guerguerat barrier.

"Even if they announce the mobilization of ’thousands of volunteers’ for a ’lightning’ assault, everyone knows that the Sahrawi separatists, equipped with weapons that have changed very little since the 1980s and totally dependent on their Algerian protector for their renewal, are reduced to the minimal tactics of hit and run: approach the Moroccan army’s defense wall at a distance, launch a few rockets, and then immediately turn back to escape the retaliatory fire," ironizes the author of the editorial.

In October, the Polisario had blocked the civilian and commercial free movement in the Guerguerat buffer zone. "For Brahim Ghali and his clan, settling in Guerguerat between the Moroccan and Mauritanian border posts was both to generate a source of income and to create a ’patriotic’ diversion likely to remobilize an exhausted population," he says. But this presence will be short-lived. On the orders of King Mohammed VI, the Royal Armed Forces intervened to secure the flow of goods and people. A defense wall has also been built in this area. This military operation allowed nearly two hundred trucks blocked at the barrier to resume their activity.

For the author of the editorial, as long as the fiction of an autonomous Polisario has not been lifted and Algeria has not recognized its role as a party to the conflict, no definitive settlement will be possible.