The separatists of the Polisario Front threatened, on Sunday January 24, Morocco with ” climbing “ military, after having bombed the Guerguerat border post under Moroccan control in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. “The war will continue and escalate. All the positions of the Moroccan army are targets ”Sidi Ould Oukal, a senior security official and spokesperson for the defense ministry of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), proclaimed in 1976 by the separatists, told AFP.
The Polisario says to itself “In a state of war of self-defense” since Morocco sent, on November 13, 2020, troops to the far south of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, to drive out a group of Sahrawi militants who were blocking the only road to neighboring Mauritania.
Since then, these Moroccan troops have remained deployed in this demilitarized zone placed under the tutelage of a United Nations interposition force, in order to “Secure road traffic” on this commercial axis leading to West Africa.
The separatists contest the legality of this axis, described as “Illegal breach”, contrary, according to them, to the ceasefire agreement of 1991 signed under the aegis of the UN.
“Normal situation”
Saturday evening, the Polisario forces announced that they had launched four missiles in the direction of Guerguerat, a locality located on the road. They also claimed responsibility for attacks along the sand wall erected by Morocco which separates Sahrawi fighters from Moroccan forces in this vast desert territory disputed since the departure of the Spanish settlers.
According to Mr. Ould Oukal, the passage of Guerguerat was ” closed “ and the situation is “Chaotic”. However, these claims could not be confirmed by independent sources.
” This is just the beginning. It is a warning to users of this road and this land. The entire territory of Western Sahara is a war zone ”, he warned, warning that “Neither Guerguerat nor any point of the Saharawi territory is safe from the missiles and shells of the Saharawi combatants”.
A senior Moroccan official contacted by AFP in Rabat downplayed, saying “Harassment shots near the Guerguerat area”, who have not “Not touched the road axis, whose traffic was not disturbed”.
“This has been part of a cycle of harassment for more than three months” and “There is a will to create a propaganda war, a media war, on the existence of a war in the Sahara”, But “The situation is normal”, he assured.
Moroccan television 2M broadcast a report with images and testimonies of truckers collected Sunday in the area of Guerguerat. “This morning, traffic on the road axis between Morocco and Mauritania is normal. Commercial traffic has not stopped ” since the Moroccan intervention in November, he said in the report.
Procrastination
The question of the status of Western Sahara, considered as a “Non-self-governing territory” by the UN in the absence of a definitive settlement of the conflict, has opposed Morocco to the Polisario for decades. The latter calls for a self-determination referendum provided for by the United Nations, while Morocco, which controls more than two thirds of the territory, proposes an autonomy plan under its sovereignty.
The negotiations, led by the UN and involving Morocco and the Polisario with Algeria and Mauritania as observers, have been suspended since 2019.
The Polisario says it is ready to resume talks but excludes laying down its arms, scalded by thirty years of status quo. “In the past, we have placed our full confidence in the international community and put an end to the armed struggle. We waited thirty years. Thirty years of broken promises, procrastination and untenable waiting “, lamented Sidi Ould Oukal earlier this week.
Morocco’s position was reinforced by the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty by former US President Donald Trump over the entire disputed territory.
This recognition linked to normalization between Morocco and Israel is accompanied by an envelope of three billion dollars (2.4 billion euros) for the “Financial and technical support for private investment projects” in Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa.
