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Rabat – Mauritania has announced setting up three surveillance radars along its northern border with Morocco to fend off Polisario activities in the region.
Mauritanian defense minister, Hanan Ould Sir, inaugurated the new surveillance stations on November 26 indicating the country’s determination to monitor Polisario’s moves along the lander border between Morocco and Mauritania amid fears of tensions in the region.
The stations are equipped with three radars along the Moroccan-Mauritanian border-city Zouerat, located 700 kilometers north of Capital Nouakchott, according to reports in the Mauritanian media.
In addition to the three surveillance radars, the Mauritanian defense minister also inaugurated a commanding and tactical station in the town of Derek town, located 40 kilometers northwest of Zouerat.
The measure is of critical importance to ensure border security, the Mauritanian defense ministry said in a press release quoted in media reports.
The Mauritanian ministry’s move is believed to have been prompted by the hostile presence and activities of Algeria-backed separatist group Polisario along the Morocco-Mauritania border.
In recent years, Nouakchott and Rabat have shown strong political will to cooperate on the subject of border security. Mauritania especially relies on Morocco to secure the vital Morocco-Mauritania border crossing point in Guerguerat.
Polisario militias pose a constant threat to the border crossing point that sees heavy commercial activities between the two North African neighbors.
In November 2020, Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces (FAR) intervened in the region to restore order after Polisario’s blockaded the road, targeted commercial vehicles, and caused a three-week-long complete halt of commercial activities in the region.
In their intervention, Morocco’s FAR established a “security cordon” at the border crossing point without inflicting any casualties.
Morocco’s operation to restore security in the region received widespread international support, with countries like Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, among many others, all making statements in support of Morocco’s territorial integrity.
At the time of the incident, a number of analysts pointed out that Polisario’s Guergarat blockade was part of the separatist group’s desperate attempt to garner international sympathy and undermine Morocco’s recent diplomatic advances on the Western Sahara question.
Also Read: Western Sahara: Why Algeria is Furious at the Latest UN Resolution
