"This poses a serious threat to the Maghreb," Alexander said.
Over the last month, Polisario factions have clashed near the Mali
border with Algeria in a struggle over the drug trade. Polisario and
Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb were said to have been moving
cocaine from South America through the Sahel region.
Another analyst, Peter Pham, said the fighting within Polisario could
increase as many fighters left Libya after the collapse of the regime of
Col. Moammar Khaddafy in September. Pham, director at the Atlantic
Council, said scores of Polisario mercenaries were now left without a source
of income and could join the drug trade.
On Sept. 15, France convened 35 countries to discuss counter-insurgency.
French Justice Minister Michel Mercier said his government was pleased with
CI cooperation with Morocco as well as Spain and the United States.
"These groups are essential because they enable the exchange of
operational information and the strengthening of mutual requests for legal
assistance," Mercier said.
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Comments
I have read the report “Polisario working with Al Qaida in drug, weapons trafficking” in which, once again, utterly inaccurate and preposterous accusations are levelled against the Frente POLISARIO, the internationally recognised national liberation movement of Western Sahara.
The allegations attributed to “leading analysts” are regrettably nothing but recycled versions of the propaganda material that is being widely disseminated these days by the Moroccan media and pro-Morocco lobbyists in the US and elsewhere.
The report openly accuses the Frente POLISARIO of being involved in “illegal drug smuggling” in both North Africa and neighbouring Europe, an accusation for which the “analyst” presents no empirical evidence whatsoever, aside from his own conjectures that have nothing to do with responsible scholarly research.
The claim made by another “analyst”, known for his hostile views on the Frente POLISARIO, who associates our liberation movement with the conflict in Libya, is another feeble rehash of well-known Moroccan propaganda. The analyst seems, wittingly or unwittingly, unaware of the statement made by the President of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdeljalil, on 30 August 2011, in which he unequivocally denied any presence of elements of the Frente POLISARIO in Libya. In his own words, Mustafa Abdeljalil said that, “We are not aware of any presence of the POLISARIO Front or assistance to Muammar Gaddafi and we cannot accuse anyone in this regard”. Nevertheless, the “analyst” and the chorus of pro-Morocco lobbyists seem to know much better than the Libyans themselves do!
In fine, it is well known that the Frente POLISARIO, the internationally recognised national liberation movement of Western Sahara, has never been associated with any form of terrorism, extremism or illicit trade. Any attempt to depict the movement as otherwise is simply to play into the hands of Morocco’s propagandistic machinery that has been engaged in a frenzied smear campaign against our national liberation movement in order to hide its widely documented and systematic violations of human rights in the Sahrawi territories under its illegal occupation as well as its rejection of the UN-supervised and organised referendum on self-determination.
Dr. Sidi M. Omar,
Ambassador of the Sahrawi Republic to Ethiopia and the
African Union,
Addis Ababa
9:21 a.m. / Thursday, September 22, 2011
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