Western Sahara: resumption of road traffic in the area blocked by the
Polisario
Tents used by the Polisario Front near the Mauritanian border in Guerguerat located in Western Sahara.
The reopening of the border has been confirmed by a Mauritanian security source and by a senior Moroccan official
For the Polisario, the cease-fire signed between belligerent Moroccan and Sahrawi under the aegis of the UN in 1991 after more than fifteen conflicts "belongs to the past" and "the fighting continues"
RABAT: Road traffic between Western Sahara and Mauritania resumed Saturday after the military operation launched the day before by Rabat at the Guerguerat border post, while the Polisario separatists claim that fighting is continuing in this disputed territory.
"Dozens of trucks (...) blocked for three weeks because of the actions of the Polisario militias have crossed the Moroccan and Mauritanian borders", on a road axis essential for commercial traffic to West Africa, a announced the official Moroccan agency MAP.
The reopening of the border has been confirmed by a Mauritanian security source and by a senior Moroccan official.
For the Polisario, the cease-fire signed between belligerent Moroccan and Sahrawi under the aegis of the UN in 1991 after more than fifteen conflicts "belongs to the past" and "the fighting continues".
The renewed tensions in the former Spanish colony that Morocco and the Polisario have fought for for decades, has caused concern at the UN, the African Union (AU) but also in Algeria, Mauritania, France, Spain or even Russia, countries which follow this file.
"The war continues to the present time on all fronts all along the Moroccan wall of shame," Saharawi Defense Minister Abdallah Lahbib told the official Algerian press agency APS, assuring that " the Saharawi Liberation Army has won important victories and caused human and material losses to the Moroccan occupier ”.
"The areas of Mahbès and Guerguerat were targeted by shells and machine guns," said a press release from the Sahrawi Defense.
"State of war"
The day before, the same ministry had reported "massive attacks" along the Moroccan defense wall in the areas of Mahbès, Haouza, Aousserd and Farsia, with "human and material damage to the enemy". It has not been possible to verify from an independent source the veracity of these claims.
Ibrahim Ghali, Secretary General of the Polisario and President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), proclaimed in 1976 by the separatists, said he had "declared a state of war" and decreed "the resumption of armed actions, in order to protect the inalienable rights of our people ”.
Morocco has not commented on the situation along the 2,700 km wall that cuts Western Sahara in two, a huge desert territory with unresolved status since the departure of the Spanish settlers.
On Friday, Rabat announced that it had launched a military operation in the buffer zone of Guerguerat in order to reopen the road leading to Mauritania.
“I am one of the drivers stranded on this road to Guerguerat. Today it is open and I am the first to go. Everything went well, ”said a Moroccan truck driver on Saturday in a video broadcast by MAP.
The Moroccan general staff had indicated Friday evening that this passage was "completely secure", while Foreign Affairs repeated that "Morocco remains firmly attached to the cease-fire".
"Avoid an escalation"
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday night saw the failure of his efforts to "avoid an escalation" in Guerguerat and warned "against ceasefire violations and serious consequences for any change. to the status quo ”in force in the area.
The United Nations Mission for the Organization of a Referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso), created following the ceasefire agreement, deployed on the ground "a special team made up of civilians and soldiers. since the start of the crisis ”.
For his part, the chairman of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, expressed his "deep concern", worrying about "serious threats to break the ceasefire".
Mauritania and Algeria, neighboring countries involved in stalled political negotiations since 2019, have called for "restraint" and an end to military actions.
Morocco, which controls 80% of the former Spanish colony, wants "autonomy under control" of the territory, where major Moroccan development projects have been launched in recent years.
The Polisario, supported by Algeria, militates for independence and calls for a referendum of autodet
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