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Today, Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates announced that Jordan stands fully alongside the brother Kingdom of Morocco in all measures it takes to protect its national interests, territorial integrity and security.
In a statement, the ministry affirmed its support for the measures ordered by His Majesty King Mohammed VI to restore security and safety in the buffer zone of Guerguerat on the border between Morocco and Mauritania and to ensure the safety of citizens and the fluidity of traffic and commercial traffic.
Ministry spokesman Ambassador Dhaifallah Al-Fayez condemned the illegal incursion in Guerguerat, which violates signed agreements and pushes towards a threat to security and stability, underlining Jordan’s clear and firm position in favor of the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Morocco and its sovereignty over all its territories and by supporting the efforts aimed at reaching a political solution to the problem of the Moroccan Sahara. According to the decisions of international legitimacy and the autonomy initiative launched by the Kingdom of Morocco.
International and regional concern over the escalation between Morocco and the Polisario
Fears of a widening conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front in Western Sahara increased after Morocco launched a security operation on Friday in the buffer zone of Guerguerat, which the Polisario saw as the end of the ceasefire. the fire in force between the two parties for thirty years. The process angered countries in the region.
The Moroccan Foreign Ministry announced on Friday morning that this operation comes after the closure of members of the Front for the Liberation of Sakia El Hamra and the Gold Valley (Polisario) since October 21, a route by which, in particular , trucks transporting goods from Morocco to Mauritania and the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. .
The general command of the Moroccan armed forces declared later in the evening that “the passage of Guerguerat is from now on completely secured by the installation of a safety belt which secures the movement of goods and people”.
“During this operation, the Polisario armed militias opened fire on the Royal Armed Forces, which responded to them, and forced the elements of these militias to flee without recording any casualties,” she added.
She recalled that the operation had been carried out “according to clear intervention rules which require avoiding any contact with civilians”.
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita had stressed to Agence France-Presse, “The case is not linked to an offensive operation but rather a firm step towards these unacceptable actions”, stressing that the elements of the mission of United Nations responsible for monitoring compliance with the ceasefire agreement “MINURSO” and who are on the ground. ”They recorded that there was no contact with civilians.
Has the war started and has the discord spread?
On the other hand, the Saharawi Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Salem Ould El-Salik declared: “The war has started. Morocco has canceled the ceasefire.
“It is an aggression”, he added during a telephone call to AFP in Algeria, stressing that “the Sahrawi forces find themselves in a state of self-defense and respond to the Moroccan forces”.
Polisario representative in Europe Ubi Bachraya told Reuters that there had been military clashes with exchange of fire on Friday, adding: “We have announced a return to armed struggle”.
A diplomat familiar with the situation told Reuters that on Friday heavy weapons fire was heard for about half an hour from a Moroccan military position near the site of the escalation.
Message to the Security Council
The Saharawi Ambassador to Algeria, Abdelkader Talib Omar, told Agence France-Presse that “the President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Secretary General of the Polisario Front Ibrahim Ghali addressed a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, asking that the matter be presented to the UN Security Council ”.
“We hold the Moroccan occupying state fully responsible for the repercussions of its military action,” Ghali said in his message.
The Ambassador stressed that “with this attack and the opening of three holes in the separation wall, there is no turning back. There is no longer a ceasefire. “
This wall, built by Morocco, separates the Sahrawi fighters from the zone controlled by the Kingdom, and is surrounded by a buffer zone five kilometers wide on both sides.
The Polisario Front threatened on Monday to end the ceasefire agreement signed with Rabat if the kingdom “brought” soldiers or civilians into the buffer zone of Guerguerat.
Obstruction of normal circulation
A statement from the Moroccan Armed Forces Command said on Friday evening that “Polisario militia members deliberately set fire to the tent camp they set up and fled in vehicles (jeeps) and trucks to the area. east and south under the watchful eyes of observers from the United Nations mission (MINURSO).
In a speech delivered last week, King Mohammed VI of Morocco underlined, “the categorical rejection (…) of an attempt to obstruct normal traffic between Morocco and Mauritania, or to change the legal situation and history east of the security wall “.
In recent days, King Mohammed VI has exchanged messages with the United Nations, France, the United States, Mauritania and other countries “concerned by the matter”, to inform them of the process aimed at “putting an end to the obstruction “of movement at the border crossing, according to the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs.
cease-fire
The Moroccan Foreign Ministry stressed on Friday evening that “Morocco remains firmly attached to the maintenance of the ceasefire”.
Last week, around two hundred Moroccan truckers issued a distress call to everyone in Rabat and Nouakchott, in which they said they were stranded at the Guerguerat crossing, after the Polisario prevented them from crossing.
A Moroccan foreign ministry official said 108 people working in freight transport are stranded on the Mauritanian side of the border and 78 others on the other side, in trucks from different countries of Morocco, Mauritania and France.
International reactions
The escalation in the region sparked various reactions on Friday, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressing “regret” for the failure of his efforts in recent days to “avoid an escalation,” according to his spokesperson. word.
Algeria, which supports the Polisario, and Mauritania, also concerned by this conflict, called for “restraint” and “maintenance of the ceasefire”.
And France called for “doing everything possible to avoid escalation” in Western Sahara.
“France is calling today to do everything possible to avoid escalation and return to a political solution as quickly as possible,” the French foreign ministry told AFP.
Western Sahara is a vast desert region on the Atlantic coast of Africa and a former Spanish colony, of which Morocco controls 80%, and it is proposed to grant it autonomy under its sovereignty, while the Polisario Front supported by Algeria claims its independence.
Guerguerat is a buffer zone in which a United Nations peacekeeping force conducts regular patrols. In the past, he has witnessed tensions between the Polisario and Morocco, especially in early 2017.
The Polisario Front protests against the transit traffic through this point to Morocco, while the Moroccan side considers the crossing to be vital for trade with sub-Saharan Africa.
For decades, the UN has sponsored efforts to find a political solution to end the conflict over Western Sahara. At the end of October, the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for one year.
The resolution called on the parties to the conflict to resume negotiations, blocked for many months, in which Mauritania and Algeria are also participating.
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