Rabat – A member of the European Parliament (MEP) has condemned terrorist attacks carried out by the Polisario Front on the Moroccan city of Es-Semara on October 28 and November 4, in which one person was killed and three others suffered injuries.
In a written question to the European Commission, French MEP Thierry Mariani condemned the attacks, underlining that the Polisario Front poses serious “risk to the region’s stability.”
The MEP added that the group’s security risk could also have collateral effects on European states and their stability. He also questioned the links between the Polisario Front and extremist terrorist groups.
“Different sources have highlighted the possible links between the Polisario Front and Islamist terrorist groups,” the MEP said in his written inquiry. “In fact, the founder of the Islamic State – Sahel Province, Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, used to fight for the Polisario Front.”
Mariani went on to question the humanitarian aid that the Polisario Front receives from the EU to manage the Tindouf camps, asking if the Commission would be considering suspending funding for the refugee camps.
“Is the Commission considering suspending funding for the refugee camps in the south-west of Algeria, which are solely controlled and managed by the Polisario Front?” the text asks.
Following the explosions at the end of October, Morocco’s Permanent Representative at the UN Omar Hilale vowed that the country will take the necessary measures against anyone involved in the attacks.
Speaking at a press conference following the adoption of Resolution 2703 on Western Sahara, Hilale said that “we cannot ignore the substantial body of compelling evidence pointing in the same direction, as even acknowledged by the group responsible.”
The statement was in reference to a Polisario statement in which they claimed responsibility for the attacks, with Hilale recalling that international law and Security Council resolutions qualify any attack on civilians as terrorist acts and acts of war.
