Polisario, belligerence and propaganda as an addiction

Early this week we woke up to the surprising news published in Spain by the Europa Press agency, which echoed a communiqué from the Polisario Front, the headline of which read: "The Polisario denounces the death of the head of the Gendarmerie in a Moroccan attack with an Israeli drone". This was not so much a surprise in itself, but the second time in two weeks that the same event had been reported. If we assume, as it seems to be the case, that there has been no error on the part of the news agency, that there are not two people with similar names and positions in the Polisario ranks, or that this person has not died twice, we are only left with the option of an overexploitation of the figure of the deceased by the Polisario for its usual embarrassing propaganda. A rather execrable way of proceeding, moreover. And also unsurprising, it must be said.

We are not going to deny that we regret any deaths that may occur as a result of the alleged hostilities, in what has been called war in recent months. Deaths perfectly avoidable since the crazy journey to nowhere on which Brahim Ghali and his reckless belligerence have been embarked for months, and on whose conscience they will have to weigh. But the Polisario's communication apparatus's shameless day-to-day work goes beyond the limits of what is tolerable.

This has probably been the most important piece of news of a confrontation of which, moreover, news coverage of its development continues to be conspicuous by its absence. Undoubtedly an unprecedented case in the history of modern warfare, as it is the first conflict in which, after six months, we have yet to see any reliable and contrasted audiovisual material. A dubious record that once again casts doubt on the veracity of the dispute on the ground, at least on the scale that the Polisario is trying to portray it to the public.

Adaj el Bendir was the name of the deceased. He had recently been appointed head of the gendarmerie last June, although he joined the ranks of the Polisario Front in 1978, taking part in the war with Morocco. According to the communiqué (that of a fortnight ago) issued by official Polisario sources, “the commander of the national gendarmerie, the martyr Adaj el Bendir fell on Tuesday in the field of honor, where he was on a military mission in the liberated area of Rouss Irni, in Tifariti”. In the field of honour. Nonsense in the service of more propaganda. An area where ethical boundaries do not seem to exist.

Another noteworthy aspect that aroused interest in this story was the rumour that Brahim Ghali accompanied the deceased during the attack, and that he was even the main target. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mr Ghali had been missing for months, but not in combat, cinematic pun intended. And with him has been his leadership, which in this day and age may have been needed by his people. Without showing his face in this key period, friend of the ostrich strategy, how could Mr Ghali die " in the field of honour " alongside his gendarmerie chief? Just now, as we write these lines, we receive the news that he has entered Spain for health reasons. But there is no possible justification for this, the above has been going on for much longer, and this latest news only further supports the idea that his replacement is closer than we think.

On the other hand, the attempt to glorify the character with the traditional rhetoric of patriotic exaltation that the Polisario tends to use on these occasions is even jocular. Using a discourse more reminiscent of the Napoleonic wars, Saharawi sources indicated that it is not so difficult for a high-ranking official to die on the ground. "Our commanders are usually on the front line," they said. And it would not be strange for Brahim Ghali himself to die on the battlefield one day. On the contrary, it would be an honour for him. Our commanders know that the way to instil morale in the troops is to set an example and to be there, on the front line.

If the message, as well as being propagandistic, was intended to boost morale among the young Sahrawi fighters, we fear nothing but a good handful of guffaws will have been produced. It does not take much digging to realise that almost all of the Polisario's top leaders over the years have died, and not exactly on the battlefield. With the exception of El Uali Mustafa Sayed, from Ali Beiba to Mohamed Abdelaziz, and including other historical figures such as Mohamad Jaddad, they reached old age as Polisario leaders without too much trouble before passing away. Not to mention countless lower echelon cadres who could be added to the list of those who died in their quarters.

This way of masking reality is not new. In the Polisario, time stood still decades ago, with similar practices within this perpetual 'game of the chair' as far as the distribution of posts is concerned, albeit always among the same outdated characters. Particularly singular is the case of the prime ministers, where from 1976 to the present day the same five people have been rotating in office, in a cyclical fashion, over ten stages.

These examples are closely linked. Divinising the leadership to justify its cesarism and gerontocracy to the outside world, where everything is immobilism in which any kind of discrepancy is forbidden. On this side of the strait it may, as always, get a pass among its devoted supporters. However, in the camps, rejection is growing, where the 'bunkerisation' of the Polisario leadership is more palpable than ever, alienated from a young population that is living in the weariness of a permanent lack of definition while it is ignored and denied its share of representation in the organs of power. On top of that, it is now being sent to 'war' with empty slogans that, to top it all, glorify decadent leaders.

This is perhaps one of the few positive legacies that could come out of this alleged war. This insane requirement of having participated in war actions in order to hold leadership positions within the Polisario disqualifies any possibility of change or openness, changes that seem essential towards a younger ruling class that overcomes the generational divide with the bulk of the population. This is the only serious thing that could come out of all this, the only useful thing. This might enable the younger generation to agree to seek the dialogue-based solution that the Polisario is denying them, that the UN is inviting them to, and that the rest of Sahrawi civil society is urgently calling for with the emergence of new leaderships such as the MSP.

Unfortunately, we fear that this will not be the case. The shamelessness with which propaganda has been used in recent months in the service of self-promotion, grandiloquence and war exaltation bear witness to this. It is not necessary to go to the media to see it; there we have the more than 160 war reports, almost indistinguishable one from the other, except for their rancid smell of mothballs. We can only hope that the situation does not escalate, that there will soon be a change of leadership and that sanity will prevail. As Thomas Gray's famous poem, which centuries later inspired Stanley Kubrick's heart-wrenching anti-war plea to the screen, famously put it, "(...) "the paths of glory lead but to the grave". There is still time to avoid it.