Polisario youth involved in Al Qaeda operations in the Maghreb: Mustapha Salma

In an interview with the Moroccan news outlet Hespress, Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud, a former police chief of the Polisario Front and a political dissident, revealed shocking facts about the connection between the Polisario youth and the terrorist organization Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI).

Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud traced back the involvement of Sahrawi youth in terrorism to the rise of political Islam and Jihadist organizations in Algeria. He explained that since the formation of the Islamic salvation Front (ISF) in Algeria, an outlawed Islamist party in Algeria, the Sahrawi students who were attending Algerian universities were incrementally influenced by the Islamist Ideology.

“Many Sahrawi students were attracted to the ISF ideas despite the shift to the armed struggle and the idea of Jihad,” he noted. In response to the propagation of militant Islam, the Algerian authorities used an iron fist to wipe out Islamism form Algeria. Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud explained that Algeria led large scale operations to arrest Islamists and anyone “who was wearing a bear”. He added that the pro-Islamist Sahrawi students were expelled from Algerian universities and sent back to the camps.

In his analysis of the genesis of Militant Islam in the Tindouf camp, Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud said that “The Polisario Front made serious mistakes regarding religion.” “The Sahrawi community was initially conservative. When the Sahrawi people were taken to the camps they were converted into a communist society,” he noted.

Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud stressed also that under the Polisario rule, the Tindouf camps residents were compelled to forego their religious practice such as fasting, in addition to being prevented from performing their daily prayers. In addition, there was no mosque built in the camps since 1976.

As a result, the Islamists who came back from Algeria were the only ones who tried to build mosques in Dakhla, Layoune and Smara camps. Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud pointed out that “The Polisario Front both neglected and fought the religious dimension in the Sahrawi community. This created a big vacuum, which was filled by the Islamist Sahrawi students who came back from Algeria”.

He added that the new Islamist trend in the camps tried to provide religious counseling and led a movement of religious awakening. Due to unemployment and the lack of youth facilities, the appeal of Islamism became more pervading in the Tindouf camps. When the war started in Mali, the official statistics revealed that 120 to 125 were recruited by Islamist groups.

Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud said that AQMI, an organization sprouting from Algeria and led by Algerian Islamists, has expanded to the Sahara. He revealed also that, Adnane Ibn al Walid, the spokesperson of the Islamist Group for Unification and Jihad is a young Sahrawi who was a public servant in the Union of the Polisario Youth.

“These Sahrawi youth from the camps took part in some operations claimed by Al Qaeda in Niger and some of them died in these attacks,” he said.

تابع القراءة Résumé abuiyad

Spain: Polisario officials summoned to court on charges of torture and crimes against humanity

The exceptional political, economic and diplomatic relations between Morocco and Spain, reinforced by the recent visit of king Juan Carlos to Morocco, and the convergence of views of Morocco and Spain concerning a number of regional and international issues should certainly worry and haunt the Polisario and its traditional backer, Algeria. These relations should become stronger after the king Mohamed VI facilitated the fishing agreement between Morocco and the European Union and pardoned, on the occasion of the Throne Day, 48 Spaniards imprisoned in Morocco.

Civil society in Spain should appreciate Morocco’s measures to support Spain in its severe economic crisis. After all, politics is all about interests and Polisario members who used to roam about freely in Spain may now be arrested, especially after the revival of a complaint of genocide and violations of human rights filed against them at the National Court of Madrid by some Sahraoui victims. The court, which is Spain’s highest criminal court, will convene on August 12 to listen to the victims.

The complaint was filed on December 14, 2007 and it was ruled admissible by the court. The complaint accuses Polisario security officials and the Algerian army of “genocide, torture, forced disappearances, illegal detention and serious violations of human rights.” Thus, the purpose of filing this complaint is that “justice be made” and the perpetrators of crimes “pay for their dastardly deeds,” said Dahi Aguai according to MAP news agency.

The court’s revival of this file and its notification to the victims are proof that Spanish justice is determined to move forwards in pursuit of the perpetrators of crimes against humanity in the Tindouf camps. The president of the Association of the Missing in the Polisario Camps Mr. Dahi Aguai said that he held a meeting with a Spanish lawyer in Jerez de la Frontera, in Southern Spain, in order to prepare the case and ensure that the accused, who are in Spain, cannot leave Spanish territory. The judge of the National Court handling the case has recently asked the Spanish police to locate the persons concerned and report them to the court.

Of the 29 accused, these include ex-representative of Polisario in Spain, Brahim Ghali, (now in Algeria), the ‘minister’ of information of the so called SADR, Sid Ahmed Batal, the ‘minister’ of education, Bachir Mustapha Sayed, and the current Polisario representative in Spain, Jandoud Mohamed. Also on the list is the former representative of the Polisario in the Canary Islands, Mohamed Luchaâ, who recently died in Las Palmas. The so-called ‘minister’ of the colonies, Khalil sidi Mhamed, and the current coordinator with MINURSO and former director general of military security, Mohamed Khaddad are also on the list.

It should be noted that the Polisario, which started recently using the issue of human rights against Morocco supported by several one-sided human rights organizations, including Kerry Kennedy’s RFK Center, witnesses the worst violations of human rights. At the time of writing these lines, the Sahraoui activist Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Moloud is still protesting in front of the High Cmmissioner for Refugees office in Nouakchott, Mauritania after a month of hunger strike to join his family and children that he hasn’t seen for approximately three years. The charge against him is his free expression of support of the autonomy plan presented by Morocco to solve the conflict for good!

تابع القراءة Résumé abuiyad

Dissenting voices challenge the legitimacy of the Polisario leader

It’s very ironic, and incomprehensible that the man who is ostensibly leading the so-called nation of the Sahara towards emancipation and liberation is himself a dictator who continuously, and since 1975, succeeds himself in elections with only one candidate who is himself: Mohamed Ben Abdelaziz Al-Morakchy.

The man who claims to defend the right to self determination is depriving the Sahraoui people of Tindouf of their right to self-determination. The destiny of the Tindouf Camps refugees was and continues, until an unknown date, to be at the hand of this Stalinian ‘leader’ who controls the camps with an iron fist and prolongs the plight of the refugees under inhumane conditions in Tindouf.

The status quo, fortunately, has started to shake up thanks to the spirit of protest ignited by Arab revolutions. Raised first in face of Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia and subsequently against other dictators in the region, the famous slogan of ‘dégage’ (leave) echoed in the ears of the Polisario leader Mohamed Ben Abdelaziz who was surprised by more than 400 protestors asking him to step down in protest against the conditions of extreme poverty and humiliation in the Tindouf Camps.

According to media sources, many angry people gathered in front of the auditorium which hosted the 43 anniversary of the so-called “Elzimlah uprising” and raised the slogan “dégage.. dégage” before storming the hall where Mohamed Ben Abdelaziz and an Algerian delegation were celebrating the anniversary. Embarrassed and surprised, the Polisario leader slipped away leaving the room to its chairs and banners! After some violent skirmishes between the angry demonstrators and members of the security forces of the separatist front, the bodyguards of Mohamed Ben Abdelaziz managed to evacuate him from the room by the back door to ride his car and disappear.

It should be noted that many voices have started to rise from within the Tindouf Camps criticizing the way Mohamed Ben Abdelaziz manages the Camps where life gets increasingly hellish. Khat al-Shahid (The Line of the Martyr) Movement which announced its existence on July 4, 2004 accuses the Polisario leader of confiscating the opinion of the Sahraoui people and propagating corruption nepotism, and tribalism. The reformist movement asks for drastic democratic reforms that end the monopoly of Mohamed Ben Abdelaziz on the political scene for more than 35 years. However, the Polisario leadership usually reacts with violence and human rights abuses against any dissenting voices.

Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud, a former police chief of the Polisario Front, is another political dissident who continues to suffer exile in Mauritania away from his family and children for expressing his support of the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco. The Sahraoui activist who was denied the right to re-unite with his family in Tindouf Camps started a hunger strike before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Mauritania. After a month of hunger, Mustapha’s health suffered severe deterioration for which he was taken to the emergency department at the national hospital in Nouakchott on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

تابع القراءة Résumé abuiyad

Agreement reached to expand visits for separated Sahrawi families – UN

A meeting between the United Nations refugee agency, Morocco, Frente Polisario, Algeria, and Mauritania ended today in Geneva with agreement to expand a programme of family visits between Sahrawi refugees living in camps near Tindouf, Algeria, and their families in the territory of Western Sahara.

“This is a welcome step as we work together towards a solution of the Western Saharan refugee situation, so that one day, refugees may be able to go home in dignity and honour,” said Athar Sultan-Khan, Chief of Staff at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR).

“These families have been separated for too long, and the family visit programme allows them to meet each other, often for the first time in over 37 years. One cannot overstate the value of the deep joy and hope, which these family reunions bring,” he said.

Sahrawi refugees started arriving in Algeria in 1976 after Spain withdrew from Western Sahara and fighting broke out over its control, according to UNHCR.

The visits are a key element in a UNHCR programme of confidence-building measures that has been underway since 2004, which also includes a series of seminars to build an environment of confidence and trust to complement the efforts of the UN in finding a political solution.

Discussions took place over two days in Geneva, reaching agreement on a new flight schedule for visits in 2014, and additional seminars – with the next to take place in October this year in Portugal. Nearly 20,000 people have taken part in family visits since the programme began.

The UN has been trying to help resolve the dispute over the status of Western Sahara through the efforts of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Personal Envoy, Christopher Ross.

Morocco has presented a plan for autonomy while the position of the Frente Polisario is that the territory’s final status should be decided in a referendum on self-determination that includes independence as an option.

Participants at the Geneva meeting noted that the option of voluntary return of refugees to their places of origin will be key in any future political solution reached with the parties under UN auspices.

Source: UN News Center

تابع القراءة Résumé abuiyad

Spanish justice ‘determined’ to pursue Polisario leaders accused of genocide,Dahi Aguai

The Spanish justice is “determined” to move forward in pursuing the Polisario officials accused of genocide and serious violations of human rights in Tindouf, said Tuesday in Madrid, Dahi Aguai, President of the Association of the Polisario Missing.

The Audiencia Nacional (National Court), Spain’s highest criminal court, will continue processing this criminal investigation to “locate the Polisario torturers” and notify them of the complaint submitted to the court in 2007against them, so that they appear before justice and pay for what they did, Dahi Aguai told MAP- Madrid following a meeting with an official of the Court.

He said that the court officials have assured him that the complaint will continue its normal course and that the Spanish police are on the lookout of the wanted Polisario officials, including those who happen to be Spanish nationals who “will be arrested as soon as they set foot on Spanish soil.”

Aguai called on the Maghreb countries, including Algeria, to cooperate to stop the perpetrators and bring them before the Spanish justice.

“The goal is for justice to be rendered and for the victims to see the perpetrators pay for their actions,” he said.

A judge of the Spanish National Court, agreed last November on the complaint filed on December 14, 2007 by the victims of the Polisario and a Sahrawi NGO against senior Algerian officials and members of the security and Polisario leaders, some of whom are Spanish nationals.

تابع القراءة Résumé abuiyad