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Monday, April 19, 2010    

Algerian-backed Polisario fighters defect from disputed Western Sahara

CAIRO — Fighters have been defecting from the Algerian-supported Polisario in the Western Sahara.   

Diplomats said Polisario operatives have been contacting Western and North African countries for a safe haven. They said the operatives have described a sharp decline in the Polisario-controlled portion in the disputed area of Western Sahara.

"The situation is terrible," Polisario dissident Mustapha Ahmed Baba said on April 14.


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Baba and other four Polisario fighters have been hosted by Morocco. The North African kingdom has offered safe haven and incentives for the defectors and turned some of them into lobbyists for Rabat's policy in Western Sahara.

Polisario controls about 20 percent of Western Sahara — with an area of 266,000 square kilometers — and has threatened to fight Morocco for the remainder. Polisario, with its administrative center in Tindouf, has been supported by neighboring Algeria.

Moroccan diplomats said more than 100 Polisario members and their relatives have recently fled the Polisario-controlled refugee camps in Tindouf. Many of them described a brutal dictatorship by Polisario, which has prevented the reunification of Sahrawi families.

The defectors were said to have included senior Polisario members. One of them was identified as Ahmed Ould Sweilem, a former adviser to Polisario commander Mohammed Abdul Aziz. Some of the defectors have become lobbyists in the West for Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara.

"Sahrawis support and defend the autonomy plan," former Polisario leader Ahmed Ould Souilem said. "This represents the only solution to the current deadlock and is a win-win approach that will enable Sahrawis to manage their local affairs under Moroccan sovereignty."

Morocco was also said to have been supporting a new opposition group to Polisario in Tindouf. The group, Reform and Justice Movement, vowed to report on corruption within Polisario and called for freedom of expression and movement for those in refugee camps in Western Sahara.

"We are calling attention to the dangerous shift that led Polisario leaders to the current political and diplomatic deadlock, owing to a lack of clarity as well as a blind alliance with those with geopolitical interests in the region that are detrimental to our people, who have been suffering for over a third of a century," the opposition movement said on April 9.

Polisario has launched a crackdown against would-be defectors. The diplomats said those believed to be planning to flee Tindouf were charged with "communicating with the enemy."




Comments


All this news is propaganda and a complete lie!!!!!!!! Free western sahara nowwwwww!!!!

julius      10:02 a.m. / Wednesday, April 20, 2010

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