Morocco repels an attack by the Polisario Front
‘Some are trying to drag the region into war, we have observed signs of escalation on the part of Algeria, which seems to want to move towards confrontation’, were the words of Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita in the Moroccan parliament, which, for the first time, warned of the possibility of the Polisario Front, through violent confrontation, maintaining tension in the region.
After confirming that there were no casualties in the Moroccan village of Mahbes, located in the northwest of Western Sahara, very close to the Algerian border, the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces reported that the offensive was neutralised with the help of drones.
That response, Euromagreb reports, claimed the lives of at least three members of the front line of Said Chengriha, chief of staff of the Algerian National People's Army, who acted in conjunction with the Polisario Front: Dabazi Murad, an artillery technician; Sadiq Al-Taweel, a wireless signals technician; and Muammar Al-Daihani, from the Utilisation and Preparation department.
Despite its central role, Algeria's observer position in the conflict does not help the resolution of the conflict, which the Polisario Front is hostile to. The Tebboune regime, on the other hand, is seeking an escalation of the conflict.
Letter of Hach Ahmed to the UN
In the face of these attacks, the first secretary of the Movement Saharawi for Peace (MSP), Hach Ahmed, contacted the special envoy of the UN Secretary General, Staffan De Mistura, to ask him, ‘in the exercise of his moral authority, to stop the attacks against the Saharawi population’ in a war which Hach Ahmed describes as ‘asymmetrical and useless’.
‘I am contacting you again to inform you that at least three people have lost their lives as a result of the response to the attacks by the Polisario Front. This is a regrettable occasion which prompts me once again to draw your attention to the need for urgent intervention to stop what is clearly an absurd war which only causes human loss, destruction of families, tears and more and more orphans and widows,’ reads Hach Ahmed's letter.
Ahmed further informed the special envoy that a friend of his lost his life during the confrontation. ‘Yesterday a personal childhood friend, Mohamed Ali Uld Ahmed Doula, lost his life in a similar operation. No less than ten Sahrawi children have been orphaned as a result,’ he said.
The Secretary-General added: ‘It is obvious that the peace process has been at an impasse for years and it is no less obvious that the sacrifice of innocent young people will do nothing to unblock the political process’. Furthermore, he made it clear that it is a great incongruity that, while members of the blue helmets are present and the ceasefire is in force, the UN ‘is incapable of preventing the death of innocent people with the pain that this entails for the families’.
Morocco as a strategic partner
While the attacks on the people of Mahbes were taking place, four agreements were signed which will help the socio-economic development of the region. These resolutions provide, among other things, for the reinforcement of traditional handicraft activities and the implementation of development projects in the communes of Assa-Zag.
The promotion of the development of Western Sahara is in line with the speech of the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, who recommended ‘focusing on the prospects for cooperation in the areas of food security and energy security’ and affirmed that ‘it is not Africa that needs the rest of the world; in fact, it is the world that increasingly needs Africa’.
‘There can be no shared peace and prosperity in Africa without strict respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its states,’ Bourita told the ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in the Russian city of Sochi.
The minister stressed that the countries that make up the continent cannot base their economies on the tutelage of countries that only seek their national welfare. Furthermore, Bourita recalled that Africa is the cradle of civilisation and as such should be treated as ‘a land full of progress and future promise’.
He concluded his speech with Morocco's full readiness to cooperate with strategic partners. ‘Morocco has always maintained a constant and consistent position on the urgency of translating commitments into concrete actions through ambitious initiatives and structuring projects in the service of human development, as well as food, energy and climate security and global security’.