IS THE FRENTE POLISARIO A TARGET FOR AL QAEDA?

I am grateful to my esteemed colleague Francisco Rubiales for pointing me to reports that the Frente Polisario in the Western Sahara may have been targeted by Al Qaeda.


Francisco, apart from being a much respected journalist, was the EFE correspondent in Cuba, Central America and Italy as well as being an advisor to the UN. Currently he also writes the very interesting Voto en Blanco blog.

Francisco reports that because of the frustration the Frente Polisario is suffering in its campaign for independence for the Western Sahara from Morocco and the lack of support from major nations it could be driven in to the hands of Al Qaeda.

Apparently some experts and think tanks dedicated to world politics in the USA and France have been discussing this possibility which if it happened would be a drastic and dangerous change in the Maghreb. It would also increase the instability in that part of the world that is of great strategic value.

Currently Al Qaeda is not a major force in the Maghreb. Its activities are confined to areas of Mali and Mauritania where it has staged a number of kidnappings – perhaps because it is short of funds. Naturally if it were to team up with an armed force such at the Frente Polisario that limited influence would be greatly increased.

Francisco says that many sectors of the Polisario and the people of the Western Sahara are now calling for a restarting of the armed struggle against Morocco. If it was a conventional war then Morocco would easily outnumber its opponents however if it because a conflict for which Al Qaeda is famed – guerrilla attacks, kidnappings and major strikes to attract the attention of the rich countries then the results could be terrible for Morocco.

Movements amongst Saharan veterans and reservists have already been detected. They have experience of past conflicts which would be invaluable in a renewed armed conflict with Morocco. Experts place the strength of the Polisario at around 70,000 – insignificant in a conventional war but scary if used in insurgency and guerrilla warfare.

The Polisario representative in Spain, Bucharaya Beyun, has declared before the media they have weapons and combatants sufficient for a war and many sections of the population in the Western Sahara are putting pressure on the organization to return to fighting Morocco.

Up till now the people of the Western Sahara have placed their hopes with the UN and the good offices of Spain and the USA to resolve the conflict. However if Morocco continues with its campaign of repression against El Aaiún and refuses to agree to a negotiated solution which allows for the self-determination of the Western Saharan people then the outcome could be terrible indeed.

Interestingly Abdeslam Maghraoui, a political science professor at Duke University who specializing in terrorism in North Africa, says there isn’t any indication that Morocco is a strategic priority for the Al Qaeda. According to the professor it has two minor networks in the country: the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group responsible for the 2003 Casablanca attacks and the 2004 metro bombings in Madrid; and the Salafiya al Jihadiya, which operates in medium-sized Moroccan towns.

However it appears Abdeslam Maghraoui agrees with the assessment of Francisco because he has stated that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb might find non-ideological support among disenchanted Sahrawi militants in Tindouf who don’t see an end to the dispute over the Saharan region.

VALENCIA BECOMES FOCUS OF WESTERN SAHARA PROTESTS

It was two weeks ago on Tuesday that the Frente Polisario press agency, SPS, alerted the world to what was taking place at the Gdeim Izizk protest camp close to the Western Saharan capital of El Aauín. We are not sure precisely what happened, how many were killed, injured or disappeared because it would be wrong to merely rely on the word of the SPS and Morocco has banned all Spanish journalists, politicians, Euro MPs and international observers from going to see.


This Tuesday in the early hours of the morning I received a message Guillermo O William. He said that as he wrote four Policía Nacional vans had arrived at the PSOE office in Valencia at 24.10. They had sealed the windows and cries could be heard from the 16 protestors inside. He added the police wanted to silence the activists who had been holding a peaceful sit-in protest in the PSPV office (PSPV is PSOE in Valencia).

Moving in at the dead of night is a usual Policía Nacional tactic. Many years ago I saw squads of baton waving officers clearing hundreds of Moroccan cars blocking the road to Algeciras port. The cars packed with families of Moroccans travelling home for the summer holidays from their jobs in Northern Europe had been kept out in the boiling sun all day as they waited for a ferry home. Many had collapsed in the heat, some died, so they protested by blocking the road. After the events of that year a new system of moving the million of Moroccans through was introduced that treats them in a civilized manner.

Since the current crisis erupted in the Western Sahara refugees from the region have been holding a series of weekly protests outside the Moroccan Consulate in Valencia. The Tuesday demo was the fifth and then the protestors marched to the PSPV-PSOE office to team up with the Western Saharans who had previously occupied the building and were not encamped outside.

The PSOE office protest was against the “silence” of the socialist government in Madrid both over what was happening in the Western Sahara and Morocco’s embargo on media, political and observer visits. The spokesperson for the activists, Nadira Mohamed, said there were now 150 protesting at the doors to the socialist’s office with a heavy police presence.

Mohamed explained the weekly protest at the consulate has the objective of “denouncing the constant violation of the human rights that Morocco is carrying out in the Western Sahara.” Now to this has been added anger at the “passivity” of the Spanish Government before the “violence” of the Moroccan army on the Saharan people that came to a head “with the assault on the Gdeim Izizk camp on November 8.”

Whilst the SPS has warned of civil war in the Western Sahara it is PSOE in Spain which is being torn apart over the issue. Activists are at angry odds with their government. There is widespread dissatisfaction with Madrid’s response to the dismantling of the ‘Campamento Dignidad’. Whilst many party members are openly challenging José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his new foreign minister, Trinidad Jímenez, the party baron’s are also unhappy but have confined their anger to mumbling under their breath.

More open with its protests is Izquierda Socilista that is demanding the government responds with “determined action” making a “firm and explicit condemnation” of the actions of Morocco since 1975 when the dying Franco regime withdrew hastily from its former colony. Zapatero has tried to defend the actions of his government but the ante is being upped by the centre-right Partido Popular.

The PP is no friend of Morocco and has stated that should it come to government in 2012 it will deal with its neighbour across the Strait of Gibraltar in a firm manner. This would include agriculture and fishing policy but especially in its defence of the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla – which Morocco views as occupied territories.

The Western Sahara and support for the Frente Polisario has been a touch stone for socialists and those on the far left in Spain and wider Europe. Hence it is ironic that the PP is now able to use this issue to drive another nail in to PSOE’s electoral coffin and at the same time to put pressure on Morocco’s monarch and government.

LAUGH? THEY COULD DIE!

The Polisario Front has spoken of its dismay at the lack of support from the Spanish premier, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, which it described as “minimal”. It also accused him of having “little interest” in the situation in the Western Sahara capital of El Aaiún, after the violent dismantling of the protest camp at Gdeim Izik on November 8.


In statements to Saharan journalists the prime minister of the self proclaimed RASD government, Abdelkader Taleb Omat, considers that Zapatero had ignored in his declaration at the NATO summit in Lisbon the serious situation existing at El Aaiún under Morocco’s control.

Taleb Omat spoke of his surprise that the Spanish government had not demanded an urgent independent international investigation as to why Morocco will not lift its blockade on the free access to the region of Spanish journalists and international observers to the Western Sahara. He added this would save lives and would protect the Saharans from the Moroccan policy to exterminate them.

The RASD premier also deplored the fact that Zapatero did not raise fundamental questions on a referendum for self-determination and the respect for human rights.

Now you’d probably rightly say what’s to laugh about in that? The answer is of course nothing especially as we have no idea just how many have died, been seriously injured or have disappeared. If the situation wasn’t so serious the humour would be in the political fall-out in Spain.

The Western Sahara was a Spanish colony and was literally dumped in to the hands of Morocco and Mauritania in the dying days of the Franco regime. Now the centre right opposition Partido Popular is turning up the heat on Zapatero and intends to raise the subject in the Spanish Upper House, the Senate. The PP says it will condemn “the serious violation of human rights” on the part of Morocco in the Western Sahara. It also wants Spain to return to its former position of openly supporting the decolonisation process.

PP Senator Alejandro Muñoz Alonso has presented a motion that calls on the government “to condemn the serious violations of human rights that have been produced” and also the controls that have impeded press freedom and the activities of professionals in the media. The PP also wants the mandate of Minurso, the UN force in the region, to be changed to give it competence over human rights to allow it to stop the violence.

Of course support for the Polisario Front in Spain and elsewhere has always been the fiefdom of the centre left and far left. Izquierda Unida has been outspoken over the disaster that is taking place in the Western Sahara but the PSOE government seems intent on pretending it simply isn’t happening. This has caused outrage amongst many PSOE activists who are pressing their government to change it stance. They are engaged in a series of demos, sit ins and protests – not against Morocco but their own government in Madrid.

As the old saying goes – laugh – I could cry but in the meantime the people of the Western Sahara are dying!

ACT NOW TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF THE WESTERN SAHARA

If you have been following the news over the last week you are probably aware of the desperate situation that exists in the Western Sahara. The Moroccan army has been violently dismantling the protest camp at Agdaym Izik. Many of those living there have fled in to the desert or the town of El Aaiún. The people of the Western Sahara are being persecuted by gangs of Moroccan settlers, encouraged by the Moroccan Government with support from the army.

Please help by acting now!

As a matter of urgency please send a letter to your Euro MP or Euro MPs asking that the European Parliament demands that the Moroccan Government immediately ceases its violent campaign and honours the human rights of the people of the Western Sahara. (Readers in the USA and elsewhere please contact your elected officials) Send a letter in your own words – it is far more productive that just adding your signature to a letter which had been signed by hundreds of other people.

The people of the Western Sahara need your help!

WESTERN SAHARAN HOMES IN FLAMES

http://lookingtotheleft.blogspot.com/2010/11/western-saharan-homes-in-flames.html

Como sabréis, recientemente el ejército de Marruecos des mantel violentamente el campamento saharaui de protesta de Agdaym Izik. Muchas de las personas que permanecían allí han huido por el desierto y la mayoría han vuelto a la ciudad de El Aaiún. La población saharaui está siendo perseguida por cuadrillas de colonos armados y agitados por el gobierno marroquí y el ejército de ocupación.


Estamos lanzando una acción de presión al Parlamento Europeo para que se haga cargo de la responsabilidad que le corresponde y se posicione, intentando de este modo que se detenga la violación de los derechos humanos en el Sáhara Occidental. Mandar tu propio correo personal pidiendo a los/las representantes de tu país en el europarlamento que actúen. El objetivo de la acción es que cada persona envíe un correo personal, no "copiando y pegando" textos, sino con sus propias palabras (mucho más efectivo que recibir el mismo texto 100 veces).


Ayúdanos a parar esta barbarie.

FAR FROM QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

The senator José Carracao, perhaps the most understanding of the mainstream Spanish politicians with regard to Gibraltar, recently told Panorama: “Gibraltar cannot be a British colony indefinitely.” He is of course right but not in the manner he envisages.

Now there are those who would argue that with the new Constitution Gibraltar has entered a post-colonial state. Equally there are others on the Rock who would contest that view. I am a hack and not a constitutional expert so will let that debate pass other than to observe there is no consensus on the issue.

I am a Briton of a certain generation so still hold emotional links towards Gibraltar yet I accept that the younger age groups in the UK do not. Yet I have no strong views on what the future status of the Rock should be. I have no strong view because I am not a Gibraltarian – my only firm belief is that whatever option is eventually selected it should be the free choice of Gibraltarians alone.

The status quo is that Gibraltar is under the British Crown possibly still colonial, may be not. Compare that with Ceuta or Melilla that neither Carracao nor any other Spanish politician would consider to be a colony. Although they lie across the sea in another continent they are deemed to be an integral part of Spain. This of course does open up the debate on whether Gibraltar should be integrated in to Britain but that is for another day.

In a recent letter to Panorama on the congestion charge Michael J Sanchez wrote: “Inaction is interpreted by Latin countries as ineptitude and weakness which the FCO in London has never come to grips with.” He sadly is right. Since the days the British Empire was dismantled the Foreign Office has been in a guilt ridden state over its former or remaining possessions.

Compare its agonised reaction to the on-going Spanish criticism over British involvement in Gibraltar with Spain’s stout defence of Ceuta and Melilla and outright rejection of Morocco’s claim to these territories. The Spanish monarch and his family are regularly sent across the Strait to demonstrate Madrid’s commitment to its enclaves. The premier and leading politicians walk its sands. Gibraltar’s Queen would never be allowed by London to visit the Rock and no British Prime Minister has been here since Churchill during World War II. Make no mistake if it wasn’t for the 1969 preamble the Foreign Office would have happily handed Gibraltar over to Spain lock, stock and ceremonial keys.

Now whilst Spain is contemptuous of Morocco’s claims over Ceuta and Melilla that does not tell the whole story. Back in 1975, in Franco’s dying days, Madrid handed over the Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania with an indecent haste that the Foreign Office would have been proud of. Mauritania later withdrew leaving Morocco to fill the vacuum and annex the territory.

This has led to an on-going fight by the people of the Western Sahara for independence backed by the Polisario Front that has drawn support from Morocco’s neighbour Algeria. Although the Spanish Government long ago washed its hands of its former colony many Spaniards have not.

At a basic level many communities in Spain take in the children from the refugee camps of the Western Saharans over the summer months. At a more acute level are activists from such organisations as SaharAcciones.

They are in the news because 14 Spanish pro-independence activists were arrested in the disputed Western Sahara on Saturday night and beaten up. The Moroccan police arrested them in El Aaiún, the chief town of Western Sahara. Moroccan government spokesman Khalid Naciri has since said in a statement: “The Moroccan government cannot take responsibility for what happened in El Aaiún, but that must be assumed by these provocative tourists.”

Madrid at first demanded answers from Rabat but then concluded the activists had “taken part in an illegal, unauthorised demonstration, during which these altercations took place.” Spanish premier José Luis Zapatero stated: “It is an essential principle of foreign policy to maintain a good relationship with neighbouring countries like Morocco." In other words “no surrender” on Ceuta and Melilla but Rabat can rely on Madrid’s compliance over the Western Sahara.

Western Sahara peace activist Aminatu Haidar said Morocco had demonstrated it has no respect for Spaniards or their government. Gibraltarians might say much the same thing about Spain.

(The above article appeared in Panorama on September 3, 2010).

FROM HUNGER STRIKE TO HOUSE ARREST

The Western Sahara peace activist, Aminatu Haidar, switched within hours from being on the verge of death from an enforced hunger strike in Spain to being held under house arrest at her home in El Aaiún. When you are fighting for civil rights for your country your life is constantly under threat so such radical changes in fortunes come as the norm to the woman described as the “Saharawi Gandhi” for her non-violent protests.

It was on November 14 that Morocco refused to allow Aminatu Haidar to return to her home in the Western Sahara on her return from New York where she had received the Civil Courage Prize for her work in demanding human rights for her homeland. Although she had neither a Moroccan nor Spanish passport she was allowed to return to Lanzarote with the government in Madrid guaranteeing her safe conduct although she was later fined on public order offences.

The Spanish Government offered her a passport but she refused the gesture as she insisted on keeping her Western Saharan status. Instead she vowed to return to her native land “dead or alive”.

Haidar had upset Morocco because she rejected that country’s right to rule over the Western Sahara. The prime minister of the self proclaimed República Árabe Saharaui Democrática (RASD), Abdelkader Taleb Omar, called on the international community to pressure Morocco to comply with international law and appealed to the Spanish monarch, King Juan Carlos, to add his support by interceding with the Moroccan king on Haidar’s behalf.

On Monday December 14 the US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, met with the Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, at the White House with Haidar at the top of their agenda. The meeting had originally been scheduled to discuss Spain taking over the presidency of the EU on January 1 but as Haidar’s condition weakened it became a diplomatic priority to seek a solution. From the US capital Moratinos issued a plea to Haidar to end her hunger strike.
Morocco stood fast over Haidar. The foreign minister, Taib Fassi Fihri, insisted that his government would make no concessions. He accused the activist of blackmail and said it was a campaign organised by Algeria and the Polisario Front.

Apart from demanding that Haidar be allowed to return to the Western Sahara in dignity the area’s premier Abdelkader Taleb Omar, had also called for the release of all Saharan political prisoners, an investigation in to the fate of those who have disappeared plus the opening of the area to international human rights observers.

Then on Thursday December 17 there was frantic activity as first Haidar was admitted to Lanzarote hospital suffering from abdominal pain as a result of her 32-day hunger strike. With reports that her life was hanging by a thread there was increased diplomatic contacts between the Spanish and Moroccan governments with the latter finally relenting and allowing her to return home.

She was declared free to leave Spain for her home country to be with her children and mother. So at midnight on the same Thursday she was flown in a hospital plane to the capital of the Western Sahara - El Aaiún. She was accompanied on her journey by her sister and the doctor who had been attending her. On receiving the news she was free to go home her protest and hunger strike ended. On leaving Spain Aminatu Haidar declared: “This is a triumph - a victory for international law, human rights and the Saharan cause.”

It was a victory at a price! Haidar now says she has being held under house arrest since her return home to El Aaiún on December 18. Before Christmas the Moroccan security forces prevented a Reuter’s reporter from visiting Haidar at her home so she gave a telephone interview with the press agency’s office in Rabat on Christmas Eve. Haidar said: “My isolation continues. I am under house arrest. The members of my family and friends have problems visiting me. The shops in my quarter are suffering from the isolation.”

She continued: “I have the value of my convictions to continue with the cause of self-determination for the Saharan people. Nothing will make me give up – the threat of jail, kidnapping, torture or exile.” She accused Morocco of using “carrot and the stick” politics with the Polisario Front and the Saharans adding that “Morocco is repressing the Saharan population whilst it is negotiation with the Polisario Front.”

Franco’s dying act

Like many of the troubled lands in today’s world the tragedy of Western Sahara lies in its colonial rule by Spain and Franco’s desire to rid his country of its obligations “muy pronto”. Indeed it was literally Franco’s dying act that his government secretly signed a tripartite agreement with Morocco and Mauritania allowing Spain to abandon the Western Sahara. The agreement was signed on November 14 1975 – days later Franco was dead.

Spain was gone from the Western Sahara within three months. Instead of the tripartite administration envisaged in the accord Morocco and Mauritania each annexed parts of the territory. Morocco seized the northern two thirds creating its southern provinces whilst Mauritania took the southern third as Tiris al-Gharbiyya.

Franco’s Spain may have abandoned its former colony but the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, forced Mauritania to withdraw in 1979. This solved little as Morocco merely moved in to the territory that Mauritania had controlled setting up the sand-berm in the desert to contain the Polisario liberation fighters.

In 1991 the fighting ceased after the UN brokered a peace agreement. However this still leaves the former colony that covers some 266,000 square kilometres of desert flatlands – one of the most sparsely populated nations on earth – in a state of limbo. El Aaiún, where Haidar is now under house arrest, is the Western Saharan capital – home to over half of the more than 500,000 people who live in the former Spanish colony.

So to today where Morocco and the Polosario Front independence movement with its República Árabe Saharaui Democrática (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) government vies for control of these desert sands. It will come as no surprise that the USA has sat on the fence whilst the SADR has won the backing from 46 States plus the African Union and Morocco has the support of the Arab League. Spain is one of those countries refusing to recognise Morocco’s sovereignty claim.

This support swings with the fickleness of international trends and it is left to brave people such as Aminatu Haidar and her Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders to keep the plight of this impoverished would-be nation in the hearts and minds of those who believe in civil rights and the right to self-determination for all.

A VICTORY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

The Western Saharan civil rights activist Aminatu Haidar has returned to her home in El Aaiún. Thursday was a day of frantic activity as first Haidar was admitted to Lanzarote hospital suffering from abdominal pain as a result of her 32-day hunger strike. With reports that her life hung like a thread there was increased diplomatic contacts between the Spanish and Moroccan governments with the latter finally relenting and allowing her to return home.

She was declared free to leave Spain for her home country to be with her children and mother. So at midnight on Thursday she was flown in a hospital plane to the capital of the Western Sahara. She was accompanied on her journey by her sister and the doctor who had been recently attending her.

It was at 16.00 on Thursday that the all-clear was given for her journey and the news was given to Haidar at the hospital’s intensive care unit where she was being treated. She was dehydrated and was being given liquids intravenously as she still refused to eat or drink.

With the news that she was free to go home her protest and hunger strike ended. It was on November 14 that Morocco refused to allow her to return to her home in the Western Sahara on her return from New York where she had received a reward for her work in demanding human rights in her homeland. Although she had neither a Moroccan or Spanish passport she was allowed to return to Lanzarote with the government in Madrid guaranteeing her safe conduct.

On leaving Spain Aminatu Haidar declared: "This is a triumph - a victory for international law, human rights and the Saharan cause."