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Rabat – The Polisario Front threatened to target the participants and organizers of the 14th Africa Eco Race Rally, arguing that the Sahara is a “war zone” in a press release on Thursday.
The separatist front launched “an urgent call on all countries of the world and public and private sectors to refrain from any activity of any kind” in the Sahara, the press release adds.
It goes on to emphasize that the Polisario “reserves the right to use all legitimate means” to respond to any actions that “undermine its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
This is not the first time that the Polisario has threatened the race’s participants.
In 2018, Polisario forces sent two vehicles to intercept the race. The separatists pulled out of the buffer zone after pressure from the UN, after Morocco had raised the issue with the international community.
In 2020, several young men carrying Polisario flags blocked the Guerguerat border crossing with Mauritania in protest, days before the start of the race which was set to pass through Guerguerat.
This again necessitated UN intervention, with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urging the maintenance “of regular civil and commercial activity” at the Guerguerat crossing.
Participants in the Africa Eco Race Rally, set to be held between 15-30 October, will traverse Morocco to its most southern border, before crossing the Guerguerate border post to Mauritania, and eventually concluding the race in Senegal’s capital, Dakar.
Participants will leave Monaco on the night of October 15, arriving at the Sahara on October 20, Assa Zag and Dakhla on October 23, before passing through the Guerguerat border post on the 24th.
In late 2020, Polisario blocked the movement of people and goods across the border, negatively impacting Mauritania’s economy and Moroccan operations, before the blockade was dismantled by Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces under UN supervision.
