Rabat – Morocco’s permanent ambassador and representative at the UN Omar Hilale warned against the Iran-Polisario drone partnership to destabilize the North Africa and Maghreb region.
Speaking at a press conference held following the adoption by the Security Council of Resolution 2654 extending the mandate of MINURSO for one year last week in New York, the Moroccan ambassador said that this partnership “will be another confirmation that we have been right for two years in warning that Iran and Hezbollah are infiltrating Tindouf and North Africa.”
Polisario and Iran “have gone from training to equipping the Polisario with drones,” he continued, noting that they “are destabilizing our region after having done the same” in Yemen and Syria.
“This is a serious act not only for Morocco but for the whole region,” Hilale cautioned.
If the two parties’ deal is confirmed, it would be “a game-changer” act, to which Morocco will react accordingly, he noted, stating that “they [Polisario] know that when Morocco decides to react, it does so appropriately.”
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It will also be a “moral issue,” he added, recalling that Polisario’s desire to acquire Iranian drones coincided with the newly adopted Resolution 2654 confirming Algeria’s responsibility in the Western Sahara dispute.
It also coincided with the UN representative in Algeria warning of famine in the Tindouf camps.
While speaking about the irregularities of the Iranian-Polisario deal, Hilale underlined that the cheapest Iranian drone’s price ranges between $20,000 and $22,000.
This amount of money, the ambassador highlighted, is equivalent to food rations for 300 people for a year, medical services for 500 people, as well as the annual schooling of 120 children in the Tindouf camps in the Algerian desert.
