In response to this articleAs a former journalist, I sympathize with others who struggle to find the correct wording to describe territories and movements. However, I must take issue gently with the item in today’s weekly recap on the Polisario attack in southern Morocco.1) As Morocco’s claim to sovereignty is recognized neither by the UN nor by the International Court of Justice, describing Polisario as a rebel group is misleading, suggesting that it wants to overthrow a legitimate status quo. You also describe them as pro-independence, which is quite correct.2) You refer to the 1975-91 war between Polisario and Morocco but without the crucial context that Morocco only took military control of the territory on Spain’s withdrawal. Thus, an uninformed reader might assume that Rabat had controlled Western Sahara forever and that the war was interrupting a status quo. This gives the impression that Polisario is a secessionist movement, which it is not.3) By not distinguishing between the Western Sahara (a non-self-governing territory in UN parlance) and Morocco’s borders as recognized under international law, you miss the relevance of the story, which is precisely that it was an incursion by Polisario into Morocco, extending its military activity beyond Western Sahara.4) Yes, it is correct that a number of countries have recently recognized Moroccan sovereignty but that too needs to be put in the context that such recognition carries no legal weight and that many more countries (and the AU) recognize Polisario’s putative state.Toby Shelley |
AFP – Pro-independence rebels fighting Morocco over the disputed territory of Western Sahara said Tuesday they had killed three Moroccan soldiers in the southern Ouarkziz area the previous day. It is the first time the Polisario Front have said they inflicted losses on the Moroccan army on Moroccan soil since mid-November, but the claim could not be verified independently. Tensions rose sharply on November 13 when Morocco sent troops into a buffer zone to reopen the only road leading from Morocco to Mauritania and the rest of West Africa, after separatists had blocked it the previous month. The Polisario responded by declaring a 1991 UN-backed ceasefire null and void, arguing the road had not existed when the truce was signed and was therefore illegal. The two sides have since exchanged regular fire along the demarcation line.
A statement by the Polisario’s “defence ministry” said Monday’s operation “against a garrison… of Moroccan forces stationed at Ouarkziz” saw it overrun then destroyed. It said Polisario fighters had seized weapons, ammunition and documents and spoke of another attack in Touizgui, towards the Algerian border, without giving details.
The 1991 ceasefire deal was meant to lead to a referendum on self-determination for the Britain-sized territory, home to about one million people. Morocco has offered autonomy but maintains the territory is a sovereign part of the kingdom. The Polisario Front, which fought a war for independence from Morocco from 1975 to 1991, has said it is still willing to join UN talks on the territory’s future — but would not lay down its arms. The talks ground to a halt last March. Rabat has won the recognition of its claim to sovereignty over the entire disputed territory from numerous countries which have opened consulates in Western Sahara.
