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Rabat – Morocco will use its high-resolution surveillance satellite to monitor the Western Sahara buffer zones, which have seen Polisario escalation in recent months.
According to Moroccan newspaper Al Massae, Morocco has decided to use its military satellite, launched in November 2017, to monitor Polisario’s movements in restricted zones, including Mahbes, Tifariti, Guerguerat, and Bir Lahlou.
The separatist group has been threatening to relocate its facilities, including the its “defense ministry” in Bir Lahlou, located 230 kilometers away from the Es-Semara provinces in Moroccan territory. The front has reportedly established tents in the restricted zones, and has continuously defied the UN 1991 ceasefire agreement since its ratification.
The newspaper added that images taken by the satellite dubbed Mohammed VI-1, are forwarded to General Abdelfattah Louarrak, Inspector General of the Moroccan Royal Army (FAR), Nasser Bourita, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, a well as other security and military authorities.
Moroccan press reported on Monday, that Morocco’s army had announced its readiness to respond to any possible provocations in the Western Sahara buffer zones.
King Mohammed VI and Morocco’s government have been calling on the United Nations and its security council to pressure the Polisario to withdraw from the buffer zones of the region, as it did in April 2017.
Moroccan officials have also warned that the nation will not stand idly by, and continue to defend its territorial integrity at all costs, emphasizing that any attempt by Polisario to change the status quo of the buffer zone could constitute a “casus belli.”
