Polisario prepares another violation of UN-brokered ceasefire in Sahara again

Few weeks after being rebuked in a UN Secretary General’s report for obstructing the functioning of the UN mission in the Sahara, the Polisario prepares for yet another blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement east of the berm putting the peace process in front of a new test.

Antonio Guterres urged in a report on the Sahara last October the Polisario to comply with the 1991 UN-brokered ceasefire agreement and cooperate with the MINURSO.

But the calls fell on deaf ears as the Polisario prepares to organize a rally in Tifariti, a locality east of the Moroccan-built security wall covered by the ceasefire agreement.

Pro-separatist websites showed videos of military and civilian deployments by the Polisario in Tifariti in what Morocco has described as another provocation.

Morocco has complained to the UN of the repercussions of such provocations by the Polisario east of the berm, as they could sap efforts towards reaching a political solution in line with UN Security Council Resolutions.

Morocco has by the past threatened that the deployment of Polisario armed men or its attempt to alter the buffer zone status east of the berm could be considered a casus belli.

The areas east of Morocco’s security wall in the Sahara are demilitarized under the UN 1991 ceasefire agreement.