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Fears are growing about a growing conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front in Western Sahara after Morocco launched a security operation in the Guerguerat buffer zone on Friday, which the Polisario saw as the end of the ceasefire. in force between the two parties for thirty years. The process infuriated the countries of the region.
On Friday morning, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that this operation occurs after the closure of members of the Front for the Liberation of Sakia El Hamra and the Gold Valley (Polisario) since October 21, the route through the that pass, in particular, trucks that transport goods from Morocco to Mauritania and the countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Later in the evening, the General Command of the Moroccan Armed Forces declared that “the Guerguerat crossing is now fully secured through the establishment of a seat belt that ensures the flow of goods and people.”
“During this operation, the Polisario armed militia opened fire on the Royal Armed Forces, which responded to them, and forced the members of these militias to flee without registering casualties,” he added.
He reiterated that the operation was carried out “in accordance with clear rules of intervention that require avoiding any contact with civilians.”
The Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, had emphasized to Agence France-Presse that “the matter is not related to an offensive operation but rather a firm movement against these unacceptable actions”, highlighting that the elements of the United Nations mission in charge of monitor compliance with the “MINURSO” ceasefire agreement and that they are on the ground “. They registered that there was no contact with civilians.”
‘The war has begun’
On the other hand, the Saharawi Foreign Minister, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, said: “The war has started. Morocco has canceled the ceasefire.”
“It is an aggression,” he added in a telephone call to AFP in Algeria, stressing that “the Sahrawi forces are in a state of self-defense and are responding to the Moroccan forces.”
The Polisario representative in Europe, Ubi Bachraya, told Reuters there were military clashes with an exchange of gunfire on Friday, adding: “We announce a return to armed struggle.”
A diplomat familiar with the situation told Reuters that heavy weapons shots were heard for about half an hour on Friday from the direction of a Moroccan military position near the site of the escalation.
Message to the Security Council
The Sahrawi ambassador in Algeria, Abdelkader Talib Omar, told Agence France-Presse that “the president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and secretary general of the Polisario Front, Ibrahim Ghali, sent a letter to the secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, requesting that the issue be presented to the UN Security Council. “
“We hold the Moroccan occupation state responsible for the repercussions of its military action,” Ghali said in his message.
The ambassador stressed that “with this attack and the opening of three gaps in the separation wall, there is no turning back. There is no longer a ceasefire.”
This wall, built by Morocco, separates Sahrawi fighters from the Kingdom-controlled area, and is surrounded by a five-kilometer-wide buffer zone on both sides.
On Monday, the Polisario Front threatened to end the ceasefire agreement signed with Rabat, if the kingdom “brought” soldiers or civilians to the Guerguerat buffer zone.
Obstruct normal traffic
A statement from the Moroccan Armed Forces Command said on Friday night that “members of the Polisario militia deliberately set fire to the camp of tents they set up and fled aboard vehicles (jeep) and trucks to the east. and the south under the watchful eye of observers from the UN mission (MINURSO) “.
In a speech last week, Moroccan King Mohammed VI emphasized, “the categorical rejection (…) of an attempt to obstruct normal traffic between Morocco and Mauritania, or to change the legal and historical situation east of the wall of security”.
In recent days, King Mohammed VI exchanged messages with the United Nations, France, the United States, Mauritania and other countries “concerned about the file”, to inform them of the process aimed at “ending the obstruction” of circulation in the passage border, according to the Moroccan foreign minister.
Stop the fire
The Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed on Friday night that “Morocco remains firmly committed to maintaining the ceasefire.”
Last week, some two hundred Moroccan truckers made a distress call to both Rabat and Nouakchott, in which they said they were stranded at the Guerguerat crossing, after the Polisario prevented them from crossing.
A Moroccan Foreign Ministry official said 108 people working in the transport of goods are trapped on the Mauritanian side of the border and another 78 on the other side, in trucks from different countries of Morocco, Mauritania and France.
Reactions
On Friday, the escalation in the region sparked various reactions, as United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed “regret” for the failure of his efforts in recent days to “prevent an escalation,” according to his spokesman.
Algeria, which supports the Polisario, and Mauritania, which is also concerned about this conflict, called for “moderation” and “preservation of the ceasefire.”
He called on France to “do everything possible to avoid an escalation” in Western Sahara.
The French Foreign Ministry told AFP that “France calls today to do everything possible to avoid escalation and to return to a political solution as soon as possible.”
Western Sahara is a vast desert region on the Atlantic coast of Africa and a former Spanish colony, of which Morocco controls 80 percent, and aims to grant it autonomy under its sovereignty, while the Algerian-backed Polisario Front demands Their independence.
Guerguerat is a buffer zone in which a United Nations peacekeeping force conducts regular patrols. In the past, it witnessed tensions between the Polisario and Morocco, especially in early 2017.
The Polisario Front protests the transit traffic through this point to Morocco, while the Moroccan side considers that the crossing is vital for commercial exchange with sub-Saharan Africa.
For decades, the United Nations has sponsored efforts to find a political solution to end the conflict in Western Sahara. At the end of October, the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for one more year.
The resolution urged the parties to the conflict to resume negotiations, stalled for many months, in which Mauritania and Algeria also participate.
