WHAT FUTURE FOR THE POLISARIO

                              WHAT FUTURE FOR THE POLISARIO

                                                                           
BY: MOULAY AHMED MAOULAININ

Since 1976 the secretary general of the Polisario Mohammed Abdelaziz, and a small group of Other Leaders control the Tindouf refugee camps. Today Algeria remains the main Financial, political, and military supporter of the Polisario, though Libya and countries of the Former Soviet Union .historically backed the polisario in the past, their support has decreased Since the end of the cold war. The polisario is the product of another era prior the Collapse of the totalitarian System, although the world started to experience changes (as from The Last decade of the last Century) Polisario remained apart from such changes in the International political behaviour, No free elections, no democraty, no plurality, no freedom of Speech and expression, no free opinion and most definitely no civil society.

It is not a secret that polisario,was established by a group of young Moroccan sahraouis students, who had felt the necessity to liberate  western Sahara from the Spaniards, during their several attempts to convince the then government in charge, and also the Moroccan national political parties to the urgency of claiming the territory back to the kingdom of Morocco, the answer, or rather the reaction from both sides was very disappointing, as far as the young sahraouis were concerned, which led them to opt for the creation of Polisario.

The aim was at the very beginning to start a struggle against the Spanish colonizer, the idea of disintegrating from the kingdom was not in the mind of the young sahraouis, simply because they are Moroccans as much as their parents, and ancestors. During 1975 Algeria became directly involved with the Polisario in addition to other Arab countries namely Libya, South of Yemen. And a number of the ex eastern bloc, among others the Soviet Union, and Cuba. In this particular time, and thinks to the unexpected international support to the polisario front, and the direct involvement of Algeria. It was the leadership of the polisario that planed during the same year the emigration of a number of sahraouis from their homes in the Sahara to Tindouf refugee camps. In fact the present refugees in the camps inside Algeria were victims of systematic lies and manoeuvres of the Polisario.

many observers see the shift of Polisario attitude towards the Kingdom of Morocco, being their own country, and the claim for a referendum leading to an independent state in western Sahara as a result of the inter –Arab differences. Allowing the sahraoui people to vote on a referendum seems like a simple solution, but the polisario had insisted on restricting the voter lists locked that process into more than six years of fruitless discussion. The UN became aware of the fact that referendum is in practical terms impossible to carry out since sahraouis do not live only in Morocco, but also in Algeria, Mauritania, and Mali. This means simply that there should be a change of these countries borders, in order to organize a just and fair referendum, since the countries concerned would totally reject the idea, the former general secretary of the UN confirmed that the organization of such referendum is impossible politically and technically. Recognizing this deadlock, the UN shifted its approach to encouraging direct political negotiations between Morocco and the polisario.One of the totalitarian stigmata that continue to weigh against polisario is its capacity to take part in the search for a political solution. The real desire for a dialogue even with the majority of sahraouis who have opted to remain in the territory in Morocco, and who are members of the CORCAS is absent (http://www.sahara-online.net )                      

THE DIVERSION OF HUMANITARIAN AID

Sahraoui refugees in the Tindouf camps depend on humanitarian aid donated by numerousUN organizations, in addition to international non-governmental organizations. It is believed And even proved that much of the humanitarian aid does not reach the refugees, instead it is in most cases sold on the black market in neighbouring countries by the Polisario. In this Respect the international community have called in numerous occasions for the Implementation of a census, and an audit system to make sure that the management of the Humanitarian aid is transparent. Both Algeria, and Polisario has refused to allow independent
Oversight of its management of humanitarian assistance. Important quantities of diverted International humanitarian aid sent for refugees in Tindouf camps have been found on the Markets in Algeria, and Mauritania, but also in Mali and Nigers, some still in their original Packaging. The sums recovered would be used to finance the front, and also its leader’s way Of life, at the expense of sahraoui refugees. These diversions according to the report of the US Committee for refugees published in year 2000 “Humanitarian workers have reported that more than 30% of the children from 5 to 12 years old were underfed, more than 70% of the Children of less than 5 years old suffered from anaemia”, in its 2001 report the committee Announced “more than 15000 children are in need of shoes”, and finally in its 2003 report, its
said “some donors in private, have asked for a control of the distribution of food to Make sure that the political and military leaders were not diverting the aid”

HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

  The polisario is severely accused of human rights abuses : the detention, killing ,and the abuse treatment of Moroccan prisoners of war from late 70’s to 2006, other accusations are that a big number of sahraouis are kept in the Tindouf camps against their will, and do not enjoy freedom of expression. In a report published in 2003; Amnesty International concluded that “freedom of expression, association, and movement continued to be restricted in the camps controlled by the polisario near Tindouf in south western Algeria».

In 2006 a full and comprehensive report of an independent committee of inquiry into allegations of violation human rights, crimes ,abuses ,and various other irregularities brought against the polisario front, was submitted to the special political and decolonisation committee (fourth committee) of the United Nations on the 4th of October 2006.This 40page documented report deals the following aspects:
• The condition of detention, the use of torture, the absence of even the minimum level of judicial process, malnutrition of prisoners, and the absence of medical care.
• Forced labour ,and rape ,and The abdication of Moroccan citizens within the international recognized frontiers of Morocco                                                                                           

The existence of the Polisario is connected to the existence of these camps, and the existence of such refugee camps on a hostile territory in subhuman conditions over a long period is a flagrant infringement of human rights. The Polisario has constantly violated the most elementary human rights for the last 30 years. The polisario can not be the sole and legitimate representative of sahraouis, especially if we take into account that two thirds of sahraouis do live under Moroccan sovereignty and they support the substantial autonomy project
(http://www.sahara-online.net ) At the same time, most of those living as refugees in Tindouf camps in Algeria back the autonomy seeing it as a solution that guarantees political, economic, and social rights of sahraouis. 

CONFLICTS WITHIN POLISARIO

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
Recent conflicts between different factions within Polisario and that many  leaders are now returning to Morocco others would if they had the chance .The internal conflict is more serious than differences over “tactics” in any case after 3 decades of isolation in a harsh environment,youngstars who have never seen their homeland, and senior officials alike rail in frustration. The Khat Achahid (line of the martyr) is a faction within the Polisario, the organization announced its existence in 2004,it accuses the polisario leadership of being undemocratic, not caring enough for the refugees, and  also accusing Mohamed abdelaziz of corruption,clientism,tribalism,and for bargaining with the sufferings of the sahraoui people; having no strategy to face the international developments, and for refusing to hold the national congress required by KHAt- AL CHAHID ( see Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia)

In the absence of any real desire for dialogue with Morocco, a return to armed confrontation with Morocco is unlikely to happen, first of all polisario is not in a position to fight against the Moroccan army, and secondly although Algeria supports, and in so many respects controls polisario, it is almost certain that it would ever permit a resumption of hostilities from its soil.

The question remains: to what extent polisario is in the service of Algerian politics? And what would be the future of polisario, as it is almost certain that it has no chance to win the ongoing diplomatic battle, nor any other battle for that matter

…