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Rabat – Republican Congressman Joe Wilson announced today that he will introduce legislation to designate the Polisario Front as a terrorist entity.
Wilson shared the news today on the social media platform X, stressing that support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan is the only feasible path to a realistic resolution of the Sahara dispute.
“I will introduce legislation to designate the Polisario as terrorists,” Wilson said, accusing Algeria and Russia of using the separatist front to gain a strategic foothold in Africa.
Morocco severed ties with Iran in 2018, accusing the Islamic Republic’s proxy Hezbollah of providing Polisario with logistical and military support in its war to undermine Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces.
Moroccan ambassador to the UN Omar Hilale confirmed Morocco’s concerns over a Polisario-Iran collusion in 2022, saying that Morocco had received indications of training and equipment provision links between Tehran and the separatist group
Iran had “gone from training to equipping the Polisario with drones,” he argued, warning that “this is a serious act not only for Morocco but for the whole region.”
This is not the first time that Wilson has emphasized the need to designate Polisario as a terrorist group for undermining regional stability and security in its war on Morocco’s territorial integrity.
In January, the congressman recalled his appeal during a public session of Congress, where he also shared concerns about Russia’s position on Western Sahara.
“War criminal Putin, Iran, and Cuba are actively destabilizing West Africa by supporting the Polisario Front, a threat to the Kingdom of Morocco,” he said, stressing Morocco’s strategic importance as a long-standing ally to the US.
Read also: US Think Tank: UN Must End Recognition of Polisario as Sahrawi Representative
He also cited the US proclamation in December 2020 recognizing Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
Wilson’s latest remarks come days after the US administration reaffirmed its unwavering support for Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces.
On April 8, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Morocco’s autonomy proposal for Western Sahara as “the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute” during his meeting today with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.
Rubio explicitly stated that “genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only feasible solution,” while pledging to facilitate progress toward this objective.
The chief of American diplomacy urged all the parties to the Sahara dispute to “engage in discussions without delay, using Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal as the only framework to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution.”
Many international officials have qualified Polisario as a terrorist entity, condemning the group’s engagement in recent terrorist attacks against Morocco.
In December 2023, French MP Thierry Mariani condemned the terrorist attacks the Polisario Front carried out in the Moroccan city of Es-Semara on October 28 and November 4 of that year. One person was killed and three others suffered injuries in that attack.
In November 2024, Polisario launched a missile attack on the town of Mahbes in southern Morocco, disrupting a civilian ceremony organized to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the Green March.
