Algeria is reportedly preparing the Polisario Front to take up arms again in the territorial conflict opposing it to Morocco.
The Polisario which suffered over the past few months many setbacks on the diplomatic level is said to be heading, at the instigation of the generals of the Algerian military intelligence services (DRS,) towards re-engagement in armed hostilities in violation of the cease-fire established in Western Sahara in 1991 under the aegis of the UN.
The Polisario chief Mohamed Abdelaziz has recently visited Cuba to request weapons and more especially the assistance of Cuban military instructors in training young Sahrawis to guerrilla tactics, a Cubans’ specialty field.
Few weeks later, media reports said Algerian authorities would have requested Washington to supply weapons to the Polisario.
In their arguments, the Algerians would have told their American counterparts that “a heavily armed and well equipped Polisario would serve the security of North Africa and Europe” and would contribute to the fight against Al Qaïda.
A well informed source was quoted by the Arabic newspaper “Ma Waraa Al Hadath” as saying that the Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal would have informed the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, while he was on an official visit to Algeria, about the request addressed to the U.S.
Asked about the matter, a U.S. diplomat told us that as was expected by Algerian authorities, there was no follow up to their request on the part of the United States which considers Morocco as a major non-NATO ally in the MENA region.
Algeria might just be seeking a way to cover up its own arms supply to the Polisario, he said adding that Washington does not recognize the Polisario nor its self-proclaimed Republic (SADR) and has no official link whatsoever with that entity.
However, Washington would seek to provide the MINURSO with the appropriate human and logistical resources to help it extend its initial mission of the cease-fire supervision to the fight against terrorist threats in the Western Sahara buffer zone, said the diplomat.
The Polisario, which has been establishing its headquarters on Algerian soil since 1976, is unconditionally backed by the Algerian Government at the political, diplomatic and financial scales.
Algiers said to be preparing the Polisario to take up arms again
