Morocco Reaffirms Ceasefire Commitment, Warns of Severe Response to Security Threats

"Morocco has reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire and the political process, while reserving the right to react with the utmost severity and in legitimate self-defense against any threat to its security," he said in an interview with the European bimonthly The Parliament Magazine.

The Moroccan diplomat recalled the illegal acts bearing the signature of the Polisario. Since 2016, the militiamen of this separatist movement, he said, have repeatedly perpetrated illegal acts, including racketeering and banditry in the buffer zone of El Guerguarat and east of the defense wall, in violation of the agreements and in flagrant disregard of the calls to order by the UN Secretary-General and the resolutions of the Security Council.

"Last month, these militias decided to further intensify their contempt for international law by blocking the movement of goods and people between Europe and West Africa, via Morocco at El Guerguarat," he recalled.

After noting that the greater Sahara and Sahel region is facing a number of challenges (terrorism, organized crime and trafficking), he highlighted Morocco’s direct engagement with the UN Secretary-General and members of the Security Council, among others, "in seeking to end the bellicose behavior of the Polisario militias".

All attempts having failed, Morocco has decided to act within the framework of its rights and duties, stressed Mr. Bourita, specifying that "this non-offensive operation, without any belligerent intention, was carried out according to clear rules of engagement, to restore free movement".