Polisario Leader Accuses Spain of Abandoning Sahrawi People Over Western Sahara

In the columns of the daily El Mundo, Brahim Ghali addressed several subjects on which he was highly anticipated. For example, on Spain’s recognition of Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara, he indicated that Spain has always abandoned the Sahrawi people to their fate and that its current position is no surprise.

"Nevertheless, the Sahrawi people have resisted and will continue to do so until they impose their legitimate rights to self-determination and independence," he said. Brahim Ghali maintains that there is "only the Western Sahara within the framework of international legality."

Questioned about his stay in Spain, the source of the rift between Madrid and Rabat, the Polisario leader explained that it is not up to him to answer this question. "A purely humanitarian question that is mixed with the bilateral relations between two countries," he says, then avoiding all the follow-up questions from the newspaper.

According to the newspaper El Mundo, out of about twenty questions asked, the leader of the Sahrawi independence movement avoided several. One of the questions avoided by Brahim Ghali is about what Morocco may have done for Spain to make a turnaround regarding its position on the Sahara.

The Polisario Front leader also remained silent on the question related to the accusations of torture, genocide, murder, terrorism for which he appeared in court in Spain in June 2021. The last unanswered question concerns the reaction the independence movement plans to take after Spain’s change of position on the Sahara.

The newspaper also wanted to know if the recognition by Spain of the Moroccan Sahara could lead to reprisals as was the case in the 1970s with kidnappings or strafing of ships. Radio silence from the Polisario leader.