Sahel Intelligence: Europe mulls closing Polisario offices over separatists’ ties with terror groups

Several European countries are considering the closing of the Polisario representations amid mounting reports sounding the alarm over the Algeria-backed militias’ ties with terrorist groups in the Sahel and the Middle East.

According to European security sources cited by Paris-based news outlet Sahel Intelligence, investigations conducted by European intelligence services showed financial and logistical connections between the leaders of the Polisario and terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM), as well as jihadist networks and Iranian proxies operating in Syria, Yemen, Iran, and Iraq.

The European investigators have found evidences of money transfer operations, equipment shipping and paramilitary training in camps in the Middle-East. These findings have pushed European governments to hold emergency consultations to ensure EU security against terror threats posed by the Polisario armed militias.

The EU interior ministers are expected to address this issue during their next meeting within a broader plan against hybrid and transnational threats.

According to intelligence experts, the EU is likely to take precautionary and preventive measures against the Polisario to protect its citizens and territories as it cannot afford to tolerate organizations with links to terrorism.

Several influential politicians and analysts from Europe, Latin American, the United States are pressing the Trump administration to designate the Polisario as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) like the Houthis, Hamas, and other Iranian proxies posing a direct threat to American security interests.