The Polisario Front's National Secretariat has held a series of extraordinary sessions focusing on the organisation of the 16th Congress to be held in December. According to Polisario leader Brahim Ghali, these meetings aim to "provide all appropriate conditions for the success of the conference at all levels", reports Al-Arab.
The journalist Mohamed Mamouni Al Al Allawi of the Arabic daily also recalls that the organisation is preparing for its congress in the midst of a leadership crisis, power struggles and accusations of human rights violations by several victims. At a recent event organised in the Moroccan city of Guelmim, victims of the Polisario Al-Rashid prison detailed some of the torture methods used by the authorities against the prisoners, such as the sentencing to ten consecutive years in solitary confinement.
On the other hand, the power struggles are said to be provoked by a kind of internal "rebellion" led by younger centrist leaders seeking to change the current leadership of the organisation due to accusations of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement of the aid received for the Saharawi refugee camps. According to the Forum for the Support of the Autonomists of Tindouf (Forsatin), Ghali's illness has sparked a debate over his successor, provoking an internal conflict between the different factions.
With the preparation of the Polisario conference, this crisis has become public, as Nabil Andaloussi, a Moroccan researcher, points out to Al Arab. Andaloussi also recalls that, since the movement declared war on Morocco almost two years ago, its inability to win diplomatic and international support for its Saharan autonomy project has become apparent. Similarly, the Polisario has suffered defeats on the front lines, especially after Moroccan forces expelled it from the Guerguerat border crossing.
The camps are also going through "a deep congestion and crisis due to the absence of a political horizon", the analyst points out. On the contrary, several media and human rights organisations have exposed the standard of living of the organisation's leaders, which is very different from that of the inhabitants of the camps. "The level of extravagance and luxury experienced by the leaders and their families is a far cry from the poverty and lack of basic necessities of life of the people in the camps," the Arabic newspaper stresses.
Voices have emerged from within the camps condemning and criticising this inequality and rejecting the current leadership. However, many of these opponents are brutally repressed, according to Andalousi, who holds the Algerian government responsible for this situation.
In addition to internal discontent and infighting, the build-up to the conference coincides with the Africa Eco Race. This rally - which will take place next October - will start in Monaco and end in Dakar, the Senegalese capital. The Polisario Front has warned participants that it will use "all legitimate means to respond to any action aimed at undermining its sovereignty and territorial integrity". The government of the self-styled Saharawi Arab Republic (SADR) also stressed that this rally is being held "in complicity with the authorities in Rabat".
The holding of this competition is, according to Al Allawi, "yet another defeat for the separatist front" which tries, through "Algeria's media platforms", to promote "the existence of war and unrest in the Sahara".
