Morocco Strengthens Security at Strategic Saharan Border Crossing

Morocco has installed a new control point at the Guerguerat border post, a point established in the demilitarized zone called "Kandahar", report the Mauritanian media. The installation of this new point follows the completion of a sand wall up to the border with Mauritania aimed at "permanently securing civilian and commercial traffic on the Guerguerat road".

Last March, Morocco had extended the defense wall by 50 km to the east to secure the Touizgui area in the Assa-Zag province, and to complete the border device to the east. This new wall connects the sand wall that extends from Guerguerat to the Ouarkziz massifs, and the Moroccan-Algerian borders.

Since last November, tensions have risen a notch between Morocco and the Polisario, supported by Algeria.
The militiamen of the independence movement had blocked the Guerguerat border crossing for weeks. On the instructions of King Mohammed VI, the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) had intervened to rout the Polisario militiamen who had blocked the only road to Mauritania. Subsequently, a security wall was erected along the border with Mauritania over a distance of 14 km. The FAR elements are still present on the ground, in order to "secure road traffic" on this commercial axis leading to sub-Saharan Africa.