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Rabat – French news outlet Le Monde has stirred backlash for terrorist incitement and apology after conveying the Polisario Front’s threats to target Morocco with suicide bombs.
On Monday, the French news outlet published a lengthy article from Tindouf on Polisario’s 16th “congress,” which saw the re-election of Brahim Ghali as the leader of the separatist militia of the Polisario Front.
The “congress” marked the presence of Algerian officials as well as others from Cuba and South Africa, the news outlet said.
During the congress, the Polisario leader reiterated the separatist group’s war claims against Morocco, saying that his “army ‘fighters’ deserves all care and attention, in all respects, material and human, in order to be at the highest levels of readiness.”
The congress took place under the theme of “escalating fight” against Morocco in defiance of urgent calls and appeals from the UN to avoid conflict escalation in the region and salvage the stagnating political process.
Read also: MEP Brice Hortefeux Warns of Connection Between Polisario, Terrorist Groups
Speaking favorably of the atmosphere under which the congress took place, Le Monde said that the event was marked by “applause and youyous (uluation) fuse in the militarized space established near the Dakhla refugee camp, named in memory of the coastal city of Western Sahara.”
The news outlet, however, acknowledged an “international tensions within the Algerian-backed” separatist group due to division.
“The leader of the Polisario had to answer in a plenary session nearly 190 questions on his political and military management from Sahrawi congressmen,” the news outlet said as it quoted members of the separatist militia making war threats against Morocco.
Le Monde quoted Khalihna Mohamed, the “youth director at the Sahrawi Ministry of Education,” who not only challenged Morocco’s territorial integrity over Western Sahara but also reiterated Polisario’s threats to begin targeting Moroccan cities with suicide bombers.
“We should not only attack the wall, but Morocco’s economic infrastructure to prevent it from benefiting from our resources. The Sahrawis in the occupied territories must participate in this struggle. We may need to consider relying on suicide bombers,” he said.
Such favorable coverage of Polisario’s pledge to terrorize Moroccan cities is not surprising coming from Le Monde, given many liberal and left-leaning Western media’s historically pro-Polisario discourse.
Still, several media and internet users expressed astonishment at the usually respectable French newspaper for brazenly conveying Polisario’s terrorism threats.
“And so LeMonde published a call to carry out attacks on Morocco,” a Twitter user said.
Moroccan news outlet Le360 also penned a response to Le Monde’s coverage.
“One testimony, in particular, should never have been published as the dangerousness of its content could not be relayed,” the Moroccan outlet wrote. “How could such remarks have been published? Neither freedom of expression nor that of the press can support the media coverage of this call to perpetrate terrorism attacks on Moroccan soil.”
Not the first terrorist threats
This is not the first time Polisario members have used terrorism threats against Morocco.
Mohamed Ouali Akeik, the Polisario Front’s “army chief,” made a similar threat last year in May, when he said that the southern Moroccan cities of Laayoune and Dakhla are “legitimate” targets for Polisario’s terrorism plots.
The “war with Morocco will extend to southern provinces with the aim of striking “Moroccan targets without affecting civilians,” he told the website Larazon in an interview.
Polisario also declared war against Morocco in November 2020, and has been relying on Algeria’s press agency to fabricate coverage of “successful military operations” against Moroccan forces.
The war claims come in defiance of UN’s repeated calls and pleas for de-escalation and restraint to salvage the UN Security Council-led political process.
Meanwhile, such threats of total war and terrorist plots have sparked concerns from many high-level officials and public figures in the international community.
Last week, former Attorney General for the state of Arizona Mark Brnovich renewed concerns about Algeria’s interference in other countries’ domestic affairs, recalling its support for the “terrorist Polisario Front.”
Labeling Polisario as a terrorist group, Bronovich said the separatist group will “retain its fertile recruiting ground in Western Sahara” amid increasing fragility and impending chaos in the neighboring Sahel region
Read Also: Former US Attorney General Labels Polisario as Terrorist Group
