Sahara: Polisario Tries to Woo Germany to Exert Pressure on Horst Köhler

Sensing the heat after Morocco scored successive diplomatic victories at the UN, Latin America, Europe and Africa, the Polisario separatist group, supported by Algeria, sent lately a delegation to Berlin in a bid to coax Germany as this country is seeking to obtain the veto rights at the UN Security Council and expand its international influence.

The Polisario delegation, which traveled to Berlin, was led by Khatri Addouh, the representative of the separatists in Europe. He met with some German MPs with a view to gain their sympathy and support for their crumbling and lost cause, and lead them to exert some pressure on the UN Secretary General’s personal envoy for the Sahara, Horst Köhler, a German national.

According to some analysts, the growing interest of the Polisario and their Algerian supporters in Germany and their orchestrated diplomatic campaigns staged in this country come to counter the strong French support to the Moroccan stand on the Sahara issue.

Realizing the goals of the moves of its territorial enemies, Morocco had rebuffed twice the calls of UN envoy for the Sahara Horst Koehler for a meeting in Berlin, proposing instead Paris as a venue.

This means that Rabat sticks to its traditional French ally as South Africa, another arch-rival of Morocco and Polisario supporter, takes over its non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Thus, in preparation for the Geneva roundtable, Mr. Koehler met a Moroccan delegation, led by Foreign minister Nasser Bourita, in Lisbon, while he hosted in Berlin delegates of the other parties to the Sahara conflict.

According to university professor Hisham Motadad, the Polisario tactical move in Germany seeks to deceive the Sahrawis sequestered in the Tindouf camps (Southern Algeria) and divert their attention following the successive heavy defeats they suffered at the United Nations and on the international scene, triggering the wrath of the Sahrawi inhabitants.

These Sahrawis are held against their will in the polisario-run camps. They have been living in lamentable conditions for over four decades, while the corrupt, feckless and repressive leaders of the Polisario separatists, are getting richer and richer. The anger, fury and resentment of sequestered Sahrawis are building up. They have organized many sit-ins lately and their protest movement is gaining momentum.

They demand urgent resolution of their decades-long predicament and trial of the polisario embezzlers, torturers, executioners, war criminals and human rights abusers, who are armed, funded and sheltered by the Algerian regime.