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Rabat – Mark Brnovich, the former Attorney General for the state of Arizona, has renewed an already mounting concern about Algeria’s interference in other countries’ domestic affairs, citing the Algerian regime’s support for the separatist Polisario Front.
In an opinion article published last week by the Washington Times, Brnowich urged the international community to look into Algeria’s sponsoring of the Polisario’s regime support for the separatist militia of the Polisario Front.
Describing the separatist group as a “terrorist organization,” Brnovich recalled recent reports of the Algerian and Iranian regimes’ collusion to “provide military and material” resources to the separatist group.
“For decades, Algeria, with the help of Iran, has provided military and material support to the Polisario Front, a terrorist organization in Western Sahara that Algeria uses to destabilize neighboring Morocco,” the former attorney general said.
Brnovich also recalled concerns about Polisario’s involvement in the embezzlement of humanitarian aid and funds meant for distressed Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf Camps. He cited the European Anti-Fraud’s 2003-2007 investigation documenting the separatist group’s misuse of international aid destined for refugees.
“With continued Algerian support, the Polisario Front will retain its fertile recruiting grounds in Western Sahara,” Brnovich said, explaining how this is alarming for regional security in the already embattled Sahel because of Polisario’s well-established links to notorious terrorist groups in the region.
Brnovich is not the first public figure to have warned the world about Polisario’s threats to regional peace and security.
Brice Hortfeux, a member of the European Parliament (MEP), warned the international community last month of the connection between Polisario and terrorist groups in the Sahel.
“These links between Polisario and terrorist groups are nothing new,” the MEP said, recalling that the founder of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara Abu Walid Al Sahrawi was a Polisario member.
Other MEPs have raised concerns about Algeria’s growing support for Russia, recalling the arms deals connecting the two countries.
In November 2022, a group of MEPs sent a letter to the European Commission, expressing their “deep concerns” over the “ever-growing ties” between Algeria and Russia.
“Algeria joined Syria and 23 other members in a vote against excluding Russia from the UN Human Rights Council,” the MEP warned, stressing that this decision reflected Algeria’s “support for Moscow’s geopolitical aspirations.”
About 27 members of the US congress also called last year for “immediate” action to sanction the Algerian regime over its purchase for Russian arms.
