The Moroccan army stated on Friday that it had launched an operation in a UN-patrolled border zone within the disputed Western Sahara to clear a key street that they stated was blocked for weeks by supporters of the Algerian-backed Polisario Entrance.
Moroccan forces arrange an in a single day safety cordon within the Guerguerat buffer zone on Western Sahara’s southern border with Mauritania, “to safe the move of products and other people by this axis,” the Normal Workers of the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces stated in a press release on Friday.
It stated the operation was launched as a result of about 60 individuals monitored by Polisario blocked a street connecting Morocco with Mauritania, calling it a “non-offensive operation” that might contain using weapons “solely in instances of self-defense,” the Related Press (AP) reported .
The Moroccan International Ministry stated the street had been blocked for greater than three weeks.
In line with Reuters, shortly after the transfer, the Polisario group, impartial of Western Sahara, accused Morocco of breaking its almost three-decade ceasefire and igniting a brand new battle.
“Conflict has begun, the Moroccan facet has abolished the state of arms,” Polisario official Mohamed Salem Ould Salek instructed Agence France-Presse (AFP), describing Rabat’s actions as “aggression”.
“Sahrawi troops are dedicated to professional self-defense and reply to the Moroccan troops,” stated Ould Salek, who serves as overseas minister for the police-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Polisario and Morocco fought for management of Western Sahara from 1975 to 1991, with Rabat taking on the desert space earlier than a UN-mediated ceasefire within the former Spanish colony in 2008.
Rabat believes that Western Sahara is an integral a part of Morocco and proposes autonomy for the resource-rich territory, however the Polisario Entrance insists on a UN referendum on independence.
The deliberate referendum has been postponed a number of instances on account of disputes between Rabat and Polisario over voter rolls and the query to be requested. Negotiations on the way forward for the territory with Morocco, Polisario, Algeria and Mauritania have been suspended for a number of months.
