Polisario Front Accuses Morocco of Obstructing Western Sahara Decolonization

"The decolonization of Western Sahara remains unfinished due to the obstructionism of Morocco, the occupying state, combined with the inaction of the international community, which has strengthened the occupying state not only in its persistence in illegally occupying parts of Western Sahara, but also in its violations and sabotage of the 1991 ceasefire agreement," the Polisario said in a statement relayed by the official Sahrawi press agency, SPS. It will add: "decolonization has been obstructed by the Moroccan military invasion and occupation of the territory in 1975."

Tensions have remained high since the ceasefire was broken on November 13, 2020 by the Polisario in reaction to an operation by the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) in a buffer zone in the far south aimed at restoring road traffic cut off by the militiamen of the separatist movement. The breakdown of the ceasefire agreement has led to "the collapse of the UN-mediated peace process," "plunging the region into a new spiral of violence and instability," the Polisario observes.

For the separatist movement, "it is imperative that the UN and its competent bodies redouble their efforts to achieve the decolonization of Western Sahara through the free and democratic exercise of the inalienable, non-negotiable and imprescriptible right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence."

The support given by the Spanish and French governments to the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara is a blow to the Polisario Front, considering this change of position as a betrayal, and recalling that Spain remains, legally, the administering power of the territory.