The Algerian regime has conducted military exercises with the Polisario Front under the name “Peace in North Africa 2” in an attempt to undermine relations with Morocco, Egypt, Libya and Mauritania. Egyptian and Libyan media overlooked the so-called “North African Capability Command Centre Exercise”, while Algerian media informed the Ministry of Defence that the training was “important for North African capabilities”.
The propaganda issued by the Algerian media, Al-Arab notes, attempted to present these routine exercises as if they were only important as a political manoeuvre to influence public opinion against the involvement of separatist fronts in Egypt, Libya and Mauritania. Tunisia, on the other hand, did not. Algiers is promoting the Polisario’s participation in military exercises as an attempt to camouflage the fact that the Front is a movement that engages in activities that qualify as terrorism.
Algeria has on several occasions sent ambassadors from the Front to influence decisions in Nouakchott, since the inauguration of the current president Mohammed Ould Ghazouani, following the Gerguerat crossing incident, completely changed the way the dossiers are examined. Last September, he stated that his country’s traditional position on the Sahara data was “neutrality”, but after taking office in 2019, he decided to change it to “positive neutrality”, as he confirmed in an interview with Le Figaro.
The newspaper also announced its support for the Security Council resolution while the country was attending the UN General Assembly in New York. A statement from the Algerian Defence Ministry underlined the limitations of this military conference, as only Egypt and Libya are symbolic, indicating that the Polisario presence is under the umbrella of the African Union organisation. “This is an obstacle to any link that unites Africa with the major international powers,” he stressed.
Mohammed al-Tayyar, an expert in security and strategic studies, added in Al-Arab: “The Sahrawi Republic without all the components of a state has no place in the United Nations and is not recognised in all international and regional organisations with the exception of the African Union”. “We knew the dangers of including the Polisario in the union, which explains why Algiers is trying to influence most of the countries seeking a formula to remove the virtual republic from the continent”. The Algerian regime is doing its best to conceal the involvement of the “separatist movement” in activities it describes as terrorism.
Sheikh Tidian Gadio, director of the African Institute for Strategic Studies and former Senegalese Foreign Minister, analysed what the African continent must do at the convention in Dakar: “Think about the question of the Moroccan Sahara and promote innovative solutions”. “To overcome future difficulties, we must overcome this problem, starting with the withdrawal of membership. I know that this organisation still exists thanks to the support of several countries, and one country in particular”, he said, referring to Algeria.
He also expressed concern about the Polisario Front’s links with the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, Hamas, Iranian armed groups and the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, and that the Algerian army was having great difficulty guaranteeing national security. For Tidian Gadio, this complex dynamic could have negative consequences for Algeria, such as international isolation.
Source : Atalayar
