Polisario Front

The Polisario, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro ("Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro") is a military and political movement in the Western Sahara, staffed by the Sahrawi refugee population. Secretary-General is Mohamed Abdelaziz.

Related Topics:
Spanish - Saguia el-Hamra - Rio de Oro - Western Sahara - Sahrawi - Mohamed Abdelaziz

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Polisario is a successor of the Harakat Tahrir in the late 1960s, lead by Bassiri. Spanish troops under Franco's regime immediately crushed its attempt at peaceful protests when it revealed its existance in a demonstration, and killed most of the leadership including Bassiri. This lead its successors, i.e. the Front Polisario, to opt for a violent struggle. The organization was formed on May 10, 1973 with the express intention of militarily forcing an end to Spanish colonization. Its first general secretary was El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed, who lead it onto a vaguely socialist path. This would soon change, and the organization today envisions free market-policies for independent Western Sahara.

Related Topics:
Harakat Tahrir - 1960s - Bassiri - Franco - May 10 - 1973 - Spanish - El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed

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Immediately upon Spanish withdrawal in 1975 Moroccan (and for a period of about 4 years Mauritanian) troops invaded and occupied the Western Sahara, and expelled most of its native population. This brought widespread international condemnation, since a United Nations mission had given recognition to the Polisario that same year, and the World Court at The Hague had found in favor of Western Sahara's self-determination. The Polisario kept up resistance, and rebased in Tindouf, western Algeria. For the next two years, it grew tremendously, as Sahrawi refugees flocked to it and Algeria supplied arms and funding. It was thus able to inflict severe damage through hit-and-run attacks against occupation forces in Western Sahara and the occupying countries, but took care not to strike at civilian targets.

Related Topics:
Moroccan - Mauritanian - United Nations - World Court - The Hague - Tindouf - Algeria - Hit-and-run attacks

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The weak Mauritanian regime was unable to fend off the guerilla strikes, and eventually collapsed in internal disorder. Polisario signed a peace treaty with Mauritania August 5, 1979, in which the Nouakchott government recognized Sahrawi rights to Western Sahara and relinquished its own claims. Mauritania withdrew, but the area it had occupied was now additionally taken by Morocco, and the war went on.

Related Topics:
August 5 - 1979 - Nouakchott

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Morocco largely managed to keep Polisario troops off by building a huge sand wall (the Moroccan Wall or berm), staffed by an army roughly the same size as the entire Sahrawi population. This stalemated the war, with no side able to achieve decisive gains, but artillery strikes and sniping attacks by the guerillas continued, and Morocco was economically and politically strained by the war. Today, Polisario controls the part of the Western Sahara on the east of the Moroccan Wall, comprising about a third of the territory, but this area is economically useless, heavily mined, and almost uninhabited.

Related Topics:
Moroccan Wall - Berm

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A cease-fire between Polisario and Morocco, monitored by MINURSO (UN) is effective since September 6, 1991, but in the abscence of a long-term political solution the situation remains unstable.

Related Topics:
Cease-fire - MINURSO - UN - September 6 - 1991

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On February 27 1976, Polisario formally proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). It has a government in exile. Abdelaziz is president. The SADR is a member of the African Union, but not of the UN. It has been acknowledged as a state by 76 states, nearly all of them African or Latin American. Some countries have not recognised the SADR, but do recognise Polisario as representative of the Saharawi people. Still other countries do not recognise Polisario at all, but also do not recognise Morocco's unilateral annexation of the area. No state has formally recognized Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara. The SADR is based with the Polisario in the vast Sahrawi refugee camps south of Tindouf, but has as its formal temporary capital (until retrieving El-Aaiun) the Polisario-controlled village of Bir Lehlou in north-eastern Western Sahara.

Related Topics:
February 27 - 1976 - Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic - Government in exile - African Union - UN - 76 states - Africa - Latin America - Morocco - Refugee camp - El-Aaiun - Bir Lehlou

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Support for the Polisario came mostly from African countries, Morocco's traditional rivals within the Arab world, and from third world non-aligned countries. The main political and military backers were Algeria and, a distant second, Cuba. For some years Libya's support was strong, but this has declined. Valuable contributions also came from the strong Spanish solidarity organizations and from some other third world liberation movements. Ties with the Fretilin liberation movement were exceptionally strong and remain so after East Timor's independence.

Related Topics:
Cuba - Libya - Fretilin - East Timor

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The United States firmly backed Morocco against Polisario during the Cold War, but Polisario never received counter-support from the Soviet Union or the People's Republic of China; both rival powers preferred ties with Morocco and refused to recognize the SADR. In the nineties, world interest in the conflict seemed to expire as the Sahara question gradually sank from public consciousness with the implementation of the cease-fire. Libya withdrew support in the early 1980's, after forming a brief political union with Morocco, and its support of the Polisario today is verbal and infrequent. Support from Algeria remains strong, but the government seems to have barred Polisario from returning to armed struggle, attempting to curry favor from the US and France and to mend the inflamed ties with Morocco.

Related Topics:
United States - Cold War - Soviet Union - People's Republic of China - Nineties - France

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In 2004, South Africa announced its formal recognition of the SADR, delayed for 10 years despite unequivocal promises by Nelson Mandela as apartheid fell. Kenya followed in 2005, and relations were upgraded in some other countries. This seems to point to increased African diplomatic activity in support of Polisario and Western Saharan self-determination.

Related Topics:
2004 - South Africa - Nelson Mandela - Apartheid - Kenya - 2005

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