Sahrawi camps, Tindouf, Algeria, 3 October (EFE).- The Polisario Front on Thursday committed itself to peace in the Western Sahara conflict before UN envoy Stefan de Mistura, who visited the Sahrawi camps in Tindouf, Algeria, but did not rule out armed struggle as a “legitimate means.”
“The Sahrawi people remain committed to the search for a just and genuine peace, but we also remain committed to our legitimate right to continue our struggle by all legitimate means, including armed struggle, to achieve our goals of freedom, independence, and the recovery of our full sovereignty,” Polisario representative to the UN Sidi Mohamed Omar told EFE.
The Polisario Front is a nationalist liberation movement that seeks to establish an Arab Democratic Republic for the Sahrawi people through self-determination and armed resistance in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony occupied by Morocco.
The UN Secretary-General’s envoy’s trip to Western Sahara comes amid efforts to restart the peace process and weeks before the Security Council is scheduled to meet to discuss the dispute between Morocco and Western Sahara.
A UN mission (MINURSO) established in 1991 is mandated to work toward a referendum in which Saharawis can choose between self-determination and integration.
The Polisario is in favor of independence while Morocco proposes autonomy for the territory within its borders – a position recently supported by Spain and France.
On Thursday, Polisario leader Brahim Gali met with De Mistura, to whom he conveyed the need to “reaffirm the legal framework of Western Sahara as a matter of decolonization.”
“The Sahrawi party expressed its willingness to work with the United Nations and the African Union to reach a definitive and peaceful solution to the conflict between the Arab Republic of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco, based on full respect for the Constitutive Charter of the African Union,” said Mohamed Omar at the end of the meeting between Gali and De Mistura.
De Mistura began his visit with a meeting with the Red Crescent, UN agencies, and NGOs present in the camps to discuss the humanitarian situation, especially after the floods of 22 and 23 Sept. caused major damage in the Dakhla camp, where 520 families lost their homes due to torrential rains.
The UN envoy then met with a delegation from the Polisario Front’s National Secretariat, led by Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, Minister Counsellor of the Presidency in charge of diplomatic affairs, and members of the negotiating delegation.
According to Mohamed Omar, the visit took place in a “context of escalation, scorched earth policy and systematic plundering of natural resources, as part of the parallel war that the occupying state (Morocco) is waging against the Saharawi people.”
On Friday, the Court of Justice of the European Union is expected to rule on the EU-Morocco trade agreement and fisheries pact on the inclusion of Western Sahara, as well as on a French preliminary ruling on the designation of origin of products from the territory pending decolonization.
De Mistura, who was appointed in 2021, has made several trips to the region during his mandate to meet with the various Moroccan, Algerian, and Sahrawi parties, but no concrete progress has been made.
The Polisario broke the ceasefire it signed with Morocco in 1991 in 2020 after Morocco sent security forces to disperse a protest on the dividing line in the Guerguerat region.
The last congress of the Front approved the intensification of the struggle as part of the new strategy of the Sahrawi independence movement. EFE
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