Western Sahara: Report by Chaia Ahmed Baba

We share the report by Chia Ahmed Baba of the Sahrawi people´s resistance that was featured in the last edition of International Panorama.

Hello Alejandro. Thanks again for the opportunity you are giving us to speak about Western Sahara.

The Guerguerat is located in the south of Western Sahara. It was liberated by the Saharawi army in its war with Mauritania. And it is the point that connects Western Sahara with Mauritania.

Of course, as it has been liberated, Morocco uses it as an exit point for all its trading goods, for all the stuff it sends to the rest of the African countries. Morocco also sent troops there, something that is not allowed. If it is a liberated area, protected and guarded by the UN. The UN is not going to prevent the army from being there, it is not going to stop Morocco from using it as it wants, as always.

The Sahrawis have decided to take the streets, protesting peacefully, so that the Moroccan army troops withdraw and so that all kinds of transfer of goods or other stuff is not made in this area. The civilians have come out peacefully.

So this situation has caused tension. The Moroccans have sent in more troops, camouflaging them as civilians to attack the Sahrawis and so any aggression is considered as a conflict between citizens. And it is not like that, those coming from Morocco are not civilians, they are soldiers of the Moroccan army.

So the only thing the Sahrawis want is for the troops to leave, for the Moroccans to stop using this place as a point of departure for these goods and to stop using it as if it were Moroccan territory. Something that it is doing with the rest of the occupied Sahrawi territories, plus the wall obviously. This situation caused tension.

Morocco began to send in more troops, making strange movements. Then the Sahrawi delegation has denounced that any aggression or any attack against Sahrawi civilians will be considered an aggression, to which it will have to respond firmly and put an end to the ceasefire agreement, which was signed in 1991 between the Polisario and Morocco.

Obviously we do not want war, we have not wanted it in more than 40 years, but more aggression and violence cannot be allowed, more refugees and more years of suffering cannot be allowed, more silence cannot be allowed. None of this can be allowed anymore.

We are no longer willing to remain silent, waiting for the UN to do its job, because it is not doing its job. And not only is it not doing its job, videos have already come out showing that it is collaborating with Morocco.

So the Sahrawis have come out peacefully to avoid the occupation of this area. Because they are already occupying a very large territory in Western Sahara, practicing violence and attacking people who are living in the occupied areas, making them live in fear, without comforts. And many other things, such as the exploitation of natural resources.

The situation in Guerguerat is becoming very tense, very sensitive and can cause many things, things that we do not want. But we also don’t want Morocco to go beyond its limits. It has already passed its limits, but we will no longer allow it. We have to defend ourselves, we have to stand firm and not longer avoid attacks.

This is just a brief summary, because the situation is much bigger than what I am telling. But the most important thing is that the Sahrawi people are coming out peacefully to protest, but as I have said, any aggression or any movement against Sahrawi civilians will cause war again.

I want to appeal to all my comrades through the ISL. Asking them to continue to support us, as they are doing. And thank you very much, really, for all the videos that you are sending us, showing support all over the world, through the ISL, the International Socialist League. We are very grateful, we feel very strong for the support you are sending us.

We need you to support us through social media, all the pages, Twitter, where they send videos talking about this situation, so that the world does not get confused again.

Thank you very much for the support, really.