Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces set up security cordon to secure flow of goods, people at Guerguarat

The Royal Armed Forces (FAR) set up, on the night of Thursday to Friday, a security cordon in order to secure the flow of goods and people across the Guerguarat buffer zone, linking Morocco to Mauritania, a statement from the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces said on Friday.

After the intervention of the FAR, the Polisario, in full rout, fled the area and set fire to the tents he had illegally set up in the area and where it was hiding weapons.

“Following the blocking by about sixty people, supervised by armed militiamen of the Polisario of the road axis crossing the buffer zone of Guerguarate connecting the Kingdom of Morocco and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, and the prohibition of the right of passage, the Royal Armed Forces are setting up a security cordon in order to secure the flow of goods and people through this axis”, the FAR statement said.

The FAR insisted, however, that the move is a “non-offensive operation without any bellicose intent.”

“This non-offensive operation and without any bellicose intent is taking place according to clear rules of engagement, requiring to avoid any contact with civilians and to resort to the use of arms only in case of self-defense”, the statement added.

The decision comes after Morocco has shown a great deal of restraint and wisdom in the face of the desperate provocations of the Polisario and its mentor Algeria who instigated their supporters to block the road linking the Kingdom to Mauritania and beyond to other African countries and refused to heed the warnings from UN bodies and countries following the situation.

Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement denouncing the presence of armed Polisario elements in the buffer zone and their disruptive acts in the area.

 

The Foreign Ministry renewed Morocco’s commitment to the ongoing UN-led political process, saying that the security cordon will operate in compliance with international legality.

The foreign ministry recalled that Morocco has until now committed itself to restraint and appeasement despite Polisaio’s provocations in the region.

Announcing that the FAR have set up a security cordon to secure the flow of goods and people in the region, the Foreign Department pointed out that faced with the serious and unacceptable provocations of the Polisario militias in the buffer zone of Guerguarat in the Moroccan Sahara, “Morocco has decided to act, in accordance with its attributions, its duties and in full compliance with international legality.”

After it committed itself to the greatest restraint, in the face of provocations from the Polisario militias, “the Kingdom of Morocco had no other choice but to assume its responsibilities in order to put an end to the deadlock situation generated by these actions and restore free civil and commercial movement,” the ministry pointed out in a statement.

The Polisario and its militias, which entered the area since October 21, 2020, carried out acts of banditry there, blocked the movement of people and goods on this road, and continually harassed the military observers of the MINURSO, the ministry recalled, noting that these documented actions constitute real premeditated acts of destabilization, which alter the status of the area, violate military agreements and represent a real threat to the sustainability of the ceasefire.

These acts undermine the chances of any re-launch of the political process sought by the international community, the ministry said, noting that since 2016, the polisario has multiplied these “dangerous and intolerable acts” in this buffer zone, in violation of military agreements, in contempt for the calls to order launched by the UN Secretary General and in violation of the resolutions of the Security Council, in particular 2414 and 2440, which ordered the Polisario to put an end to these destabilizing acts.

Morocco had then immediately alerted and regularly informed the UN Secretary General and senior UN officials about these extremely serious developments, the Ministry said, stressing that Morocco had also drew the attention of the Security Council members and MINURSO as well as several neighboring states to this situation.

Morocco has given all the time necessary to the good offices of the Secretary General of the United Nations and MINURSO in order to push the Polisario to stop its destabilizing actions and leave the buffer zone of Guerguarat, the ministry pointed out.

However, appeals from MINURSO and the UN Secretary General, as well as the interventions of several members of the Security Council, have unfortunately been unsuccessful, the ministry noted. “Morocco has therefore decided to act, in accordance with its attributions and its duties and in full compliance with international legality”.

The “Polisario” alone assumes full responsibility and the full consequences of these acts, the Ministry concluded.