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Ghost cities, rockets and drones: Polisario’s warfare in Western Sahara
Daniel Hilton
Thu, 12/09/2021 – 14:00
Sahrawis name this the “liberated territories”.
At instances comfortable and sandy, extra usually it’s a hardscrabble desert, the place wiry shrubs poke out of the earth like knots stitching the land collectively. Goat herders languidly following their flocks have been a typical sight 12 months in the past. For these searching for the normal nomadic life, Polisario-held Western Sahara was a paradise, a land of limitless skies and quietude.
At this time, that silence can be damaged by a rocket assault, the most recent raid in a 12 months of sporadic battle between the Polisario Entrance, a Saharawi nationwide liberation motion, and Morocco.
This can be a warfare fought at arm’s size, a battle of artillery hearth, attrition – maybe the odd drone strike. However three many years of ceasefire have been undone on 13 November 2020, and after so lengthy, Polisario’s energised fighters clearly need extra direct engagement.
“We’re combating to liberate our land from the Moroccan occupation,” says Mohammed Salem, the battalion commander main the operation. “The Moroccan regime is a dictatorship.”
Polisario-held Western Sahara is a barely recognised statelet often known as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). It lies within the 20 p.c of Western Sahara that the motion seized from Morocco and Mauritania after Spain, the colonial energy, exited in 1975.
Throughout the previous decade, Polisario has made some extent of encouraging a number of the 176,000 Sahrawi refugees dwelling in camps over the border in Algeria to settle on this sliver of desert. However now the scattering of properties and tents that make up the SADR’s settlements lie empty.
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Within the city of Bir Lehlou, the porticos of an ochre-painted faculty are absent the patter of kids’s ft. Scorching pink train books lie browning on deserted classroom flooring.
Additional south, in Mehaires, a hospital’s partitions and bedsheets have taken a sepia tinge, mud and dirt creeping in by way of the cracked home windows. The oasis city’s market avenue, shuttered and silent, is a tumbleweed away from a Western shootout.
This land was removed from bustling within the first place – not more than 10,000 folks lived in its roughly 53,000 km2, an space the scale of Greece.
However then Polisario declared warfare on Morocco and the evacuations started. Now solely convoys of troopers break the nonetheless. “A whole bunch of households lived right here, however greater than 90 p.c of individuals are actually again within the camps,” says Mohammed Bega, a Polisario navy commander.
These buildings have solely been deserted a 12 months, at most. However within the Sahara, months age supplies like years.
Sahrawi plan assaults on the berm
Time has been onerous on the Sahrawis. Because the 1991 ceasefire started, they’ve seen Morocco develop Western Sahara’s cities and cities, settle its residents there and win assist from a number of African states and the Trump administration over its declare on the territory.
Western Sahara’s pure assets, its main city centres and the coast are all held by Morocco – or reasonably, occupied, in keeping with worldwide legislation.
Within the meantime, Sahrawi refugees have waited for a promised referendum on independence that by no means got here, languishing within the limbo of forgotten camps in a nook of Algerian wasteland. Maddeningly sizzling in summer time, frosty throughout winter, little contemporary produce makes its method to these Polisario-administered settlements. No shock, then, that information of the ceasefire’s disintegration was obtained rapturously by the vast majority of Sahrawis within the Tindouf camps and “liberated territories”.
For many who fought within the 1975-1991 warfare, right here was an opportunity to relive former glory. To the youth, the resumption of the battle was the chance to write down their very own historical past.
Western Sahara defined
+ Present
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Western Sahara is a largely desert expanse (266,000 sq km) within the northwest of Africa that’s bordered by the Atlantic, Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria. Its indigenous individuals are the Sahrawis, who largely converse Hassaniya, an Arabic dialect.
The area was colonised by Spain in the course of the late nineteenth century and later turned often known as the Spanish Sahara. Morocco, components of which have been additionally a former Spanish colony, has lengthy made claims on the area.
In November 1975, King Hassan II of Morocco despatched 350,000 civilians and 25,000 troops into what was nonetheless Spanish territory, as a part of what turned often known as the “Inexperienced March”.
Fearing that battle with Morocco would destabilise the federal government at dwelling, because it had executed with different European colonial powers like France (in Algeria) and Portugal (in Angola), Spain quickly departed Western Sahara, slicing a secret cope with Morocco and Mauritania, the latter of which additionally claimed shut hyperlinks to the world.
Signed within the final week of fascist chief Common Francisco Franco’s life, the Madrid Accords eliminated the Sahrawis and their chief representatives, the Polisario Entrance, from the equation. Two thirds of the territory was given to Morocco, and one third was given to Mauritania.
When Morocco and Mauritania entered Western Sahara in 1975, warfare started with the Polisario Entrance, and 1000’s of Sahrawis have been pressured to flee to refugee camps in Algeria. Their place has been taken by Moroccan settlers, who’ve been incentivised to maneuver into the area by Rabat and who now make up the vast majority of Western Sahara’s inhabitants.
Polisario, which seeks independence for the territory and is backed by Algeria, defeated Mauritania in 1979. The land gained on this warfare is now recognized to Sahrawis because the “liberated territories”, a largely uninhabited stretch of desert to the east of Morocco’s 2,700 km-long border wall.
A 1991 ceasefire broke down in November 2020. There was sporadic combating since then.
Timeline
1884: Spain declares Western Sahara a protectorate on 26 December. The Spanish meet fast resistance from the Sahrawis.
1956: Morocco features independence from France and Spain on 2 March.
1957: On the United Nations, Morocco makes its first trendy declare on Western Sahara (sure treaties from the seventeenth and 18th centuries included Moroccan claims to a number of the area).
1958: Spain creates the abroad province of Spanish Sahara on 10 January.
1966: Creation of the Harakat Tahrir, or the Motion for the Liberation of Saguia al-Hamra and Wadi al-Dhahab. It campaigns for a peaceable finish to Spanish rule and self-determination for Western Sahara.
1970: A Harakat Tahrir protest in Laayoune on 17 June is brutally suppressed by Spanish forces, leading to at the very least 10 deaths and lots of of accidents. The motion disbands.
1973: Creation of the Polisario Entrance on 10 Might to characterize the Sahrawis.
1974: Spain publicizes on 20 August that it’s going to maintain a referendum to determine the way forward for the area within the first half of the next 12 months. Morocco rejects the thought. The UN asks the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) for an advisory opinion.
1975
16 October: The ICJ guidelines in a non-binding determination that whereas there have been authorized ties between Western Sahara and Morocco and Mauritania, these didn’t “set up any tie of territorial sovereignty”; additionally that such authorized ties didn’t apply to “self-determination by way of the free and real expression of the desire of the peoples of the territory”.
31 October: Morocco invades Western Sahara from the north.
6 November: On the urging of King Hassan II, an estimated 350,000 unarmed Moroccans cross into Sakiya Lhmra in assist of territorial claims in an occasion that turns into often known as the Inexperienced March (under). Spanish troops are ordered to allow them to cross to keep away from bloodshed.
14 November: Fearing battle with Morocco, Spanish assist for Sahrawi self-determination falters. Underneath the Madrid Accords, Western Sahara is ceded to Morocco (the northern two-thirds of the territory) and Mauritania (the remaining south). Whereas the deal states that the views of the indigenous inhabitants have to be revered, no Sahrawi representatives are current on the talks as a consequence of Moroccan insistence.
1976: Spain publicizes its official withdrawal from Western Sahara on 26 February. A day later, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is asserted by the Polisario Entrance. With assist from Algeria and Libya, it fights on in opposition to each Morocco and Mauritania, its forces bolstered by refugees.
1979: After three years of assaults by the Polisario Entrance, which have destabilised the nation, Mauritania is pressured to withdraw and renounces its declare on the area on 5 August. It recognises the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Morocco takes a lot of the territory beforehand managed by Mauritania.
1980 onwards: Sporadic combating continues between Morocco and Polisario. An enormous sand wall is constructed between Western Sahara and southwest Morocco to discourage assaults by Sahrawis. “The berm” will finally prolong 2,700km and take seven years to finish.
1991: Ceasefire declared on 6 September beneath the peacekeeping mission United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Its function is to observe the cessation of combating, together with the motion of troops on each side; repatriate prisoners and refugees; and conduct a referendum in 1992. The UN recognises Western Sahara as a “non-self-governing territory”.
1992: No referendum takes place, amid a dispute as to who can vote.
1997: The Houston Settlement, coordinated by James Baker, UN consultant and former US secretary of state, fails to restart plans for a referendum.
2003: The UN-sponsored Baker Plan, supposed to switch the Settlement Plan, stalls amid Moroccan opposition to any referendum.
2020
13 November: The Polisario Entrance says on 13 November that the ceasefire has come to an finish after Morocco resumed navy operations in a buffer zone.
10 December: The US recognises Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in return for a Morocco-Israel normalisation deal.
Malfoth Hmed, a 30-year-old drummer in Polisario’s military, fought within the skirmishes within the days instantly following the flare-up on the southern Gueguerat border submit that started the present spherical of hostilities. “I used to be proud that the warfare started, it’s good for all younger folks,” he tells Center East Eye.
Armed with Kalashnikovs and mortars, Hmed and a few dozen different troopers would stage assaults on Moroccan bases alongside the berm, a 2,700km-long fortification largely product of sand partitions that has locked Polisario out from 80 p.c of Western Sahara.
“First we might strategy the wall and hearth our Kalashnikovs to trigger misery within the base,” he says. “Then the older troopers would hearth their mortars. We had the eagerness to storm the bottom however have been advised to maintain in line. We have been promised {that a} correct assault would come later, however for now mortars trigger probably the most injury.”
“You’ll be able to see all generations have ardour,” Hmed says. “It means all Sahrawis take freedom very severely.”
Occasional Polisario navy bases – medleys of breeze blocks and blankets – may be discovered at secure distances from the berm and Morocco’s prying eyes and arms. For models plotting an assault of some type, clandestine camps are arrange nearer to the goal.
Within the space round Mehaires, sweeping dunes shielded by craggy ashen hills make the right spot. The sand right here is spotless, ruffled solely by chicken, goat and camel prints – and the compulsory tracks of Land Cruisers. “We strike on the wall each few days to maintain the Moroccans on alert,” says Bega, the commander. “That fixed standing tires and depresses them, and that’s once we assault a base.”
In preparation, Polisario takes MEE to a ridge a handful of kilometres from the wall, scoping out the goal. Via binoculars, the berm is little greater than a chalky smear on the recent horizon. “Earlier than 13 November, you could possibly see numerous life on the opposite aspect of the wall. Motion between homes,” Bega says. “Now there’s nothing.”
Polisario believes it’s inflicting “human and materials losses”, although once you’re attacking from distance it’s troublesome to inform. Greater than 1,600 “fight operations” have been launched in the course of the previous 12 months, the bulk within the north within the Mahbes area.
Then there’s the psychological affect on Moroccan troops. In response to the Polisario Entrance, the previous 12 months has seen Moroccan courts sentence deserters to a few to 10 years in jail over expenses of fleeing the battlefield. Some 114 troopers have been tried in October on the identical expenses, the motion stated. The Moroccan international ministry repeatedly failed to reply to these allegations when requested by Center East Eye.
Meet the Polisario veterans
Polisario’s navy leaders preserve their playing cards near their chest. Commanders refuse to disclose what number of males are of their models, not to mention what number of have been killed in the course of the combating total. It’s believed to be over a dozen, all apparently buried within the “liberated territories”.
The management boasts that Sahrawis are coming back from the diaspora of their droves to battle. Good luck discovering out what number of are literally taking part within the battle.
Many troopers are of their 60s and 70s: others are far youthful. “The youngest solider I’ve in my unit is 15,” says Salem, the battalion commander. “He’s concerned in all parts of service.” As for gear, MEE is advised that Polisario’s troopers have all method of weapons, “from the Kalashnikov up, up, up”.
On the Mehaires momentary base, 23mm anti-aircraft weapons are displayed with swagger, till one breaks down throughout a coaching train. There are Grad rockets and mortars in Polisario’s possession, too, some Soviet-era tanks and even the odd drone, hobbyist crafts tailored for navy issues.
However contemporary arms provides are a distant reminiscence. Algeria, Polisario’s closest ally and patron, has an antagonistic relationship with Morocco, and provides Sahrawi assaults its blessing. It’s unlikely, although, that Algiers is offering Polisario with new gear. Different earlier weapons deliveries got here from Muammar Gaddafi, and he’s lifeless.
Riccardo Fabiani, analyst at Disaster Group, a conflict-resolution organisation, says: “All of the gear dates again to the late Nineteen Eighties, early Nineties. They have not actually been capable of safe the rest after that. The Algerians are reluctant to essentially present them with any extra severe kinds of gear.”
Morocco, in distinction, has one of the highly effective armies in Africa. Fabiani says: “This can be a nation that has been investing of their defence amenities, significantly in Western Sahara, for many years. In order that they have detection gear and radars and drones and all kinds of amenities all alongside the sand berm. They will spot a unit from 50-plus kilometres away. They need not wait till they get near the berm.”
Polisario’s fighters level out that they’ve all the time been outgunned. Regardless of Moroccan navy superiority, the motion scored notable successes within the 1975-91 warfare, significantly in the course of the early years.
Again then, Sahrawi information of the land was an incalculable asset. Polisario fighters would emerge and disappear at will. That know-how hasn’t evaporated: Sahrawi troopers nonetheless breathlessly cost by way of the desert at night time with out lights or roads, guided by the celebs above and the stones under. However know-how has now outstripped that benefit.
Ali Mohammed is a person with a spherical face and a sq. cap who, after years finding out in Havana, speaks Spanish with the occasional Cuban flourish. He remembers nicely the final battle and, although sanguine, is reasonable concerning the challenges confronted on this new millennium.
“I can say that I’m actually fairly scared when attacking the Moroccans,” he tells MEE. “I’ve solely this Kalashnikov after I’m capturing on the base, and so they have all this new know-how. Most horrifying of all are the drones”.
Concern of Morocco’s drones
Morocco has Turkish- and Chinese language-made fight drones, and has been placing an import cope with Israel too. The dominion insists it makes use of neither its fight drones nor surveillance craft east of the berm.
However Polisario factors to varied incidents that it maintains have been the work of drone strikes. The primary two have been in April, 13 days aside however each reportedly close to the Erni River in northeastern Western Sahara’s Tifariti area.
Within the first alleged strike, Addah al-Bendir, head of the Polisario gendarmerie, was killed. The loss was stinging. “He was one among our easiest. In information, expertise and technical potential,” Bega says.
Then in August, Polisario accused Morocco of concentrating on a convoy of civilian vans with a drone strike. The missile, Bega says, hit the again of 1 truck. The three passengers escaped out the entrance.
At this time its burnt-out wreck lies within the triangle of territory the place Western Sahara meets Algeria and Mauritania, preserved and remoted just like the carcass of an elephant that has wandered off to die.
“We discovered fragments of the missile contained in the truck,” Bega says. “Our exams point out the drone was nearly actually Israeli.” MEE has unable to confirm that declare independently.
Extra just lately, Polisario has accused Morocco of killing Sahrawi and Algerian civilians in drone strikes. Photos circulating on-line recommend UAE-supplied Chinese language-made Wing Loong drones have been used.
Fabiani says: “There’s by now numerous circumstantial proof that Morocco has been utilizing drones in opposition to the Polisario in Western Sahara and possibly within the assault in opposition to Algerian vans in the beginning of November.”
But questions stay over the killing of Bendir. “There have been many conflicting theories and interpretations, and it seemed like an F-16 had really been concerned within the strike and the drone was simply there to determine the convoy.”
On the bottom in Western Sahara, drone assaults are some extent of delight. MEE requested a number of Polisario fighters and commanders if that they had witnessed strikes. Most stated they hadn’t. A handful refused to reply.
“The drones patrol right here on a regular basis,” says Salem, the battalion commander, who’s liable for the 200km of berm round Mehaires. “I personally have by no means confronted a drone strike – however they exist, they exist, they exist.”
Algeria anger at Morocco
This warfare, if it may well certainly be referred to as a warfare, is low depth to say the least. Morocco refuses to even acknowledge the breakdown of the ceasefire.
And as victories in opposition to Morocco go, probably the most important for Polisario in the course of the previous 12 months has been not on the battlefield however within the corridors of energy. In September, the European Court docket of Justice sided with Polisario and dominated an EU-Morocco commerce deal unlawful.
But the combating has energised Sahrawis younger and outdated. Brahim Ghali, the Polisario president, has advised negotiations to finish the combating are doable, significantly with the arrival of Staffan de Mistura, the brand new UN particular envoy to the area.
However it could possibly be a tough promote to many Sahrawis.
Salem is 74. He was born in Laayoune, Western Sahara’s greatest metropolis now beneath Moroccan management, and joined Polisario at 26. As somebody who has lived by way of each warfare and peace, he’s adamant about which course the Sahrawis have to take.
“Our land can’t be freed diplomatically. There isn’t a level in negotiating. Thirty years was sufficient,” he says. “As Sahrawi fighters, the principle factor is we now have hope. We all know if we don’t take our land by drive we are going to by no means get it.”
The specter of escalation looms, significantly as tensions between Algeria and Morocco threat boiling over. Algeria has been enraged by Morocco’s unilateral strikes and diplomatic successes in Western Sahara, the place numerous Arab and African international locations have begun organising consulates. De Mistura’s appointment, Algiers hopes, will enhance the prospect of a negotiated settlement.
A supply within the Algerian international ministry advised MEE: “The query of Western Sahara is a query of decolonisation, which falls beneath the UN. Algeria has all the time defended the inalienable proper of the Sahrawis to self-determination and condemned the aggressions by Morocco.”
However ties between Algeria and Morocco are at present at a nadir. In August, Algiers broke off relations, citing the Western Sahara and “hostile manoeuvres”. The killing of three Algerians close to Bir Lehlou in November solely soured issues additional.
In the meantime, Mohamed al-Wali Akeik, the Polisario military chief of workers, has threatened to increase operations past the berm. Polisario sources stated this might embody concentrating on Moroccan infrastructure and trade.
For now, it’s time for the rocket assault. Salem’s troops have waited for the final moments of daylight, and a clutch of twentysomething-year-olds have arrange a rocket launcher in a glade of pale acacia bushes.
Thrice Grads howl by way of the foliage in direction of the Smarra part’s Base 9. Smoke rises within the distance, and the commanders’ eyes widen in pleasure. As they flee, faces are turned up on the twilight sky, looking for these elusive fight drones. No signal.
“We depend on freedom-loving folks internationally to face with us,” Salem says. “We’re certain folks will assist us. Our trigger is true.”
Troopers of the Polisario Entrance launch a rocket in opposition to Moroccan forces close to Mehaires, Western Sahara in October 2021 (AP/Bernat Armangue)
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