Rabat forces were deployed on Friday in the El Guerguerat area, on the border with Mauritania. The European Union calls for the ceasefire in Western Sahara to be respected.

El Frente Polisario da por finalizado el alto al fuego y declara el estado de guerra contra Marruecos

photo_camera The Polisario Front ends the ceasefire and declares a state of war against Morocco

The Secretary General of the Polisario Front and President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), Bahim Ghali, announced today that he considers the ceasefire signed with Morocco in 1991 broken and held this country responsible for the consequences of its attack on Friday in the Guerguerat border crossing.

In a statement, Ghali also decreed a state of war throughout the territory, imposed a curfew and stressed that from now on the Sahrawi Armed Forces assume full control of national security.

In this sense, the decree orders the General Staff of the Saharawi People's Liberation Army "to implement all measures related to the implementation of the requirements of this decree within its powers and authority."

Likewise, it urges the National Security Authority, headed by the Saharawi Prime Minister, Hamoudi Bouchraya Beyun, to "take measures related to the implementation of the state of war requirements with respect to the management and administration of national institutions and agencies. , and to guarantee the regularity of services to the population ”.

Among these provisions, a curfew has been imposed on the refugee camps set up 45 years ago in the Algerian region of Tindouf, where more than 250,000 people live, and in the so-called “liberated territories”.
 

Activistas saharauis bloquean el paso del Guerguerat, principal carretera de conexión con Mauritania

Attack on Guerguerat

The tension between Rabat and the Polisario has grown since on October 21 a group of Sahrawi activists arrived at the Guerguerat border crossing, which links Mauritania with the territories occupied by Morocco in the former colony of Western Sahara, and blocked the passage through this route. commercial overlooking the Atlantic Ocean that has grown in importance in recent years.

On Friday, Moroccan military units crossed the dividing line to break the blockade and lift a security corridor, an action that triggered an exchange of fire between the Moroccan Army and the Polisario forces stationed in the area.
 

Saharauis en la zona

Hours later, Sahrawi units bombed four military bases and two Moroccan checkpoints located along the security wall built in the desert, the longest in the world at more than 2,500 kilometers in length.

Although the Polisario assured that there had been "enemy victims", this information has not yet been confirmed or denied by Morocco, nor has it been able to be corroborated by independent sources.

Saharauis se manifiestan en el campamento de Rabuni

Shortly after the attack in Guerguerat, in which there were no victims to mourn, dozens of Sahrawis took to the streets of the refugee camps to express their support for the Polisario and ask for weapons to join a possible war.

Demonstrations also took place last night in the cities occupied by Morocco in Western Sahara, particularly in Laayoune, which were repressed by the security forces and the Moroccan Gendarmerie, who, according to activists told Efe, made several arrests.

The European Union calls for the ceasefire in Western Sahara to be respected

The European Union (EU) this Saturday joined the requests of the United Nations Organization regarding the situation at the Guerguerat border crossing, in the extreme south of Western Sahara, and asked that an escalation of violence and the ceasefire in force since 1991 is respected.

A European spokeswoman told Efe that the European Union is monitoring the situation in the region after the attack carried out on Friday by Moroccan forces in this strip, which links Mauritania with the Moroccan-occupied territory in Western Sahara.

"The EU joins the UN in its call against the escalation and in respecting the ceasefire in force since September 6, 1991 and the continuation of the political negotiations suspended in 2019," the spokeswoman said.

The Polisario Front announced this Saturday that it considers said ceasefire, signed with Rabat, to be broken and decreed a state of war throughout the territory in response to the attack perpetrated on Friday, when Moroccan military units crossed this dividing line to break the blockade and lift a security corridor.

This action triggered an exchange of fire between the Moroccan Army and the Polisario forces stationed in the area.

Saharauis en la zona

Hours later, Sahrawi units bombed four military bases and two Moroccan checkpoints located along the security wall built in the desert, the longest in the world at more than 2,500 kilometers in length.

Tension between Rabat and the Polisario has skyrocketed since on October 21 a group of Sahrawi activists blocked the Guerguerat border crossing.

The UN Secretary General has already made a diplomatic call to "prevent escalation" in the area and "warn against violations of the ceasefire", without specifically accusing either party.

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