Western Sahara: Solidarity Campaign With El Guerguerat Protest

You can join the solidarity campaign with the demand of the Saharawi people for freedom and self-determination.

The “El Guerguerat” border crossing is located in the Moroccan-occupied areas belonging to Western Sahara, on the border with Mauritania. It is a territory in process of decolonization and waiting for the resolutions of the Security Council and the UN General Assembly to be fulfilled. The place has become a permanent setting for all kinds of illegal activities by Moroccan companies in coordination with European companies. The natural resources looted from the people pass through that area. At the same time, the Saharawi government has denounced that the passage is used for drug trafficking from Morocco to sub-Saharan and Sahelian countries, despite the fact that it had been under a control agreed with the Mauritanian army.

It is not an isolated event, but abuses that are repeated over time. In 2016, Morocco planned to pave several kilometers in the occupied region, forcing the Sahrawi government to deploy its army in the area. That same year, the UN denounced Morocco for violating the ceasefire agreement, signed in 1991.

For these reasons, dozens of Sahrawi civilians arrived from refugee camps in Algeria and its occupied territory, carried out a march in a caravan that crossed areas controlled by the Polisario Front and demonstrated before the wall of shame built by Morocco. When they reached “El Guerguerat” they blocked the passage of goods and set up a camp, brandishing Western Sahara flags shouting “Morocco Out!” In this way, they forced the members of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to go to the place to attend to their claims and demands, without giving in to the Mission’s demands to withdraw.

Tension is increasing as Morocco sent reinforcement troops to the place and the Polisario Front announced that it does not rule out taking up arms again and responding to the attacks, given the passivity of the United Nations, which did not implement the peace agreement signed in 1991. The Saharawi people are reaching the end of their patience, after 45 years of occupation and 29 years waiting for the referendum for self-determination.

From the International Socialist League we stand in solidarity with the struggle of the Saharawi people for self-determination, against the Moroccan invader, the complicity of the UN and the European powers. The workers and the people of the Spanish State cannot remain oblivious to this flagrant injustice that continues over time, even with the self-defined “progressive coalition” govenment of PSOE-UP. You can express your solidarity, spreading the message for the freedom and rights of the Saharawi people. And, if you wish, you can make a video like that of comrade Saharawi Chai Ahmed Baba and upload it to social networks with the hashtag #YoEstoyEnGuerguerat