Morocco Warns UN of Military Action if Polisario Deploys Drones in Western Sahara

During his traditional press conference at the UN headquarters, which follows the adoption of the Security Council resolution on the Sahara and MINURSO, Omar Hilale raised his voice. Two sensitive issues are at the origin of this anger. One is related to a possible withdrawal of MINURSO. "If this withdrawal is carried out, it will create a new situation on the ground. In this case, the Kingdom of Morocco would be entitled to return to the ante situation," that is, before the ceasefire, "legally and on the ground," warned the diplomat, recalling that three days before the ceasefire, in 1991, the late King Hassan II had addressed a letter to the then Secretary General, Perez De Cuellar, informing him that after the withdrawal of the FAR from this area (to the east and south of the wall) to hand it over to the United Nations, a group of tanks had entered the Sahara.

"He had notified him of this intrusion, asking him to do everything to make them withdraw, and holding the United Nations responsible. [...] If now the United Nations withdraws, Morocco would be entitled to take back these areas that were handed over to MINURSO. We hope that wisdom will prevail; and that the United Nations resolution will convince the Polisario and Algeria that MINURSO should no longer be the subject of such blackmail," added the diplomat.

The second issue concerns the possible acquisition of "Iranian" drones by the Polisario. "If this proves to be true, there are three explanations to give," he said. "From a geopolitical point of view, this will prove us right to have alerted the international community for two years, about the fact that Iran and Hezbollah are infiltrating Tindouf and North Africa and have moved from training to equipping the Polisario with drones. After destabilizing Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran is now destabilizing our region," warned Omar Hilale.

And he added: "secondly, this would be a game changer militarily and Morocco will react accordingly and in an appropriate manner. Finally, this would pose a serious moral problem. At a time when the UN is asking international organizations to increase their contributions to Tindouf, at a time when we are talking about the risk of famine, shortages, here is the Polisario boasting of having acquired drones."