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Rabat – The men and women of Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces (FAR) secured the border with Mauritania in the Guerguerat buffer zone after a long but productive day. Morocco’s Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani briefed political leaders this evening on the details and result of the operation. The day-long campaign to secure the Guerguerat border crossing ended in success without any loss of life.
El Othmani told politicians that operations in Guerguerat had started before sunrise. At 6 a.m. FAR concluded its final preparations before commencing its operation at 8 a.m. The operation aimed to end Polisario militants’ blockade disrupting civilian and commercial transport along the border between the two countries after the militias repeatedly violated military agreements and ignored UN calls to leave the area.
In the face of repeated provocations at the Guerguerat border crossing, the military through “firm action” restored the flow of traffic. The leaders of Morocco’s political parties received El Othmani’s briefing well, expressing their support for the operation and its goals.
Besides the country’s top politicians, the countries of Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates also expressed support for Morocco’s operation in Guerguerat.
Elected representatives in Western Sahara seconded parliamentary leaders’ praise for today’s military operation in Guerguerat in a statement.
The Association of Elected Officials of Sakia El Hamra and Oued Eddahab (ASESARIO) welcomed the campaign and its efforts to protect Morocco’s territorial integrity, according to a press release cited by Morocco’s state media. The local representatives expressed hope that the operation will create a peaceful end to recent escalations. The local politicians were happy to see the resumption of trade with Mauritania without a threat to the safety of civilians.
Western Sahara’s elected officials called for the international community to assume “its responsibility” in helping bring an end to Polisario militias’ hostilities, according to the same source. The recent blockade of the border crossing at Guerguerat had aimed to “undermine the stability and security of the region,” they stated.
“We hold the ‘Polisario’ fully responsible for what will happen to the situation,” they told Morocco’s press agency, emphasizing the separatist group’s “unpredictable and ill-calculated actions and its persistence in violating the ceasefire agreement.”
The actions of Algerian-backed Polisario militias near Guerguerat threatened to “lead the region into a spiral of instability with unforeseeable consequences,” according to the elected representatives.
