The head of the Saharawi General Staff wages an unequal fight with Morocco: 50-year-old weapons against drones and satellite surveillance
Mohamed Luali Akeik (El Ayoun, 1950) is the face of the Saharawi military resistance to the Rabat regime. A face marked by the aftermath of combat – a shell shattered his facial nerve in a skirmish south of Tan-Tan – and the olive green camouflage of his uniform. In his Rabouni barracks, a fort with the appearance of a La Mancha fort a few kilometers from the Bojador refugee camp, and flanked by photos of martyrs such as Mohamed Abdelaziz, Sidi Mohamed Basiri or El Wafi Mustafa Sayed, this son of Bedouins unravels the keys of a conflict that has lasted 49 years and to which no end is in sight. “Rather dead than Moroccan,” he proclaims.
The absence of international observers makes it impossible to know the exact scope of the hostilities in the region. But Algeria, the main ally of the Saharawis and which has already opened a gap in relations with Spain as a result of Pedro Sánchez’s turnaround and his support for the autonomy plan sponsored by Morocco, has reported a string of incidents, all of them last year and all with drones. Like the attack that claimed the lives of three truck drivers returning from Mauritania, the one launched against a commercial convoy in which a mother and her son died, or the murder of the director of the Saharawi Gendarmerie, in Tifariti, the ‘liberated’ zone east of the wall.
In Luali’s opinion, Spain’s change of position has already begun to affect the evolution of the conflict. «Fifty years later, Moroccans continue to blackmail Spain, sometimes with Ceuta and Melilla, others with jihadist terrorism and others as a key to emigration… But agreeing to Rabat’s demands means encouraging their intransigence. In addition, it is not in the hands of Spain to negotiate with the Saharawi sovereignty.
“Morocco – he adds – has always harbored expansionist plans for this region, but we Saharawis have intervened”. The question is whether she will give them up. «I am clear that this will be the case as soon as they are aware of the threat that Morocco represents for everyone. If they let him take over the Sahara, everyone else will go after him.”
Harassment
The “low-intensity” conflict, according to the United Nations, that pits the Saharawis against Morocco was reactivated in November 2020, “after the United Nations MINURSO mission failed in its mandate to organize a self-determination referendum” and after the Rabat regime “broke” the terms of the ceasefire decreed in 1991 and unleashed the Guerguerat crisis, a border post from which the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) hindered the trade of its bellicose neighbor with Mauritania.
An unequal contest, with Morocco equipped to the teeth and facing “an army of volunteers with weapons from 50 years ago,” admits Mohamed Luali. Polisario sources put the daily cost of maintaining “a 2,700-kilometer-long wall, flanked by a 300-meter strip that registers the deadliest concentration of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines on the planet, up to 36 artifacts per square kilometer. Planes, armored vehicles, Bayraktar drones, satellite surveillance… », reels off the chief of the Saharawi General Staff, who opposes an army armed with obsolete rockets and hand-numbered Kalashnikovs.
Perhaps for this reason, Morocco’s response is more focused on repelling attacks on the wall, preventing the access of Saharawi troops to occupied areas, and hitting infrastructures that can support the military deployment of the SADR, which includes its commercial traffic and the water wells. How do you face a rival of the caliber of Morocco? «Ours has always been a war of guerrillas, of harassment; precise and surprising blows thanks to the mobility that the desert offers. And it cannot be otherwise if we lack human resources, material resources or powerful alliances. Attack if the occasion allows it, and fall back when conditions are unfavourable».
Change of scenery
“The war we waged until 1991 has nothing to do with the current one. So, the world was divided into blocks: on one side the Atlantic Alliance; on the other, the socialist countries, many African and Latin American nations that had achieved independence. Algeria, Libya, Cuba, Vietnam…». The scenario has changed, even more so with the war in Europe that has returned a leading role to Algeria and its gas. «The economic interests of the countries have displaced legality, justice and human rights», Luali maintains to explain this ‘double standard’ posed by the invasion of Ukraine, and which has led to the almost unanimous support of the West «while the Saharawis we do not count for anyone ».
Mohamed Luali’s biography fits in with that of thousands of compatriots who had to leave Western Sahara after the Madrid Tripartite Agreements and which made them unwelcome guests in their own land. When asked about the drift of the Spanish government in this conflict, Luali attacks a country that has “betrayed” the commitments he had made with the Saharawi after years of colonialism.
«Spain has changed the step now, but the truth is that it has never been a friend of our cause. And least of all, the socialist governments, who initially raised their voice for us to end up handing us over to the Moroccans. His words have been carried away by the wind. Quite the opposite of the Spanish people, who are by far the ones who have helped the Saharawis the most and shown the greatest commitment».
– Do you really think they can win?
– I’m sure of it. With our will, our perseverance, our resistance. We will win because we have legality on our side and because our people have paid a high price and are not willing to throw in the towel. We are willing to die as martyrs if necessary to recover our right to live as a people
#ready #martyrs