In light of the growing activities of terrorist groups in Africa and their threat to the security and stability of countries, voices are rising within the corridors of US politics. They are urging the current administration not only to translate Washington’s support for Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces into practical measures, but also to take a decisive stance towards terrorist threats in North Africa, especially the terrorism of the separatist Polisario Front, and thus place it on the US terrorist lists.
The designation of this separatist organization, which has suspicious ties with takfiri and jihadist groups in the Sahel and the Sahara, as a terrorist group would bring about a qualitative shift in the course of the conflict over the Sahara issue. This paradigm shift strengthens the Moroccan proposal and breaks with the fragile security situation in the region, which not only threatens the stability of African countries but also the interests of international powers in this continent, including Washington.
Just last week, Republican politician John Wilson, a member of the Congressional Foreign Relations Committee, expressed the US administration’s unwavering commitment to Morocco’s territorial integrity on the sidelines of a meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. He reaffirmed Wahington’s commitment to the strategic partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco, while stressing its determination to support the North African kingdom in confronting the threats posed by Polisario Front terrorists. Crucially, Wilson had previously revealed the links between this Algerian-backed movement and Iran’s subversive agenda in the region.
Such statements reveal a growing trend among many components of the American political scene, with many increasingly urging Washington to take a firm stance towards this entity in order to protect the partnership with Morocco, America’s foremost ally in Africa. This scenario has become firmly on the table within the US administration, although it has not been adopted by the official authorities in a final and public manner, considering that any step in this direction would serve Rabat’s position on the Sahara issue at the expense of Algeria.
Combating terrorism and violent non-state actors is one of the constants of US domestic and foreign policy. The Polisario terrorist militia, through its illegal activities, its network of suspicious connections and extensions in the Sahel and the Sahara, and its operational coordination with Hezbollah and other Iranian functional militias, is in clear conflict with international humanitarian law and international and regional counter-terrorism programmes.
The involvement of the terrorist Polisario in threatening security in the region has become almost certain for a wide range of political actors around the world, especially in the United States of America. There is an Atlanticist trend to include this organisation on terrorist lists, in light of much data provided by intelligence services and international reports that have monitored its ties to terrorist groups in the Sahel and the Sahara.
The Polisario militia has become a hired regional gun that implements Iranian agendas in North Africa, in line with Algerian objectives in the Western Mediterranean and the Sahel, by trying to ignite a major regional war that threatens the mechanisms of peace and security in southern Europe and the Atlantic front of Africa.
The conditions for classifying the Polisario militia as a terrorist group have been met by this organisation from the moment it was born in the early 1970s, as its elements carried out many war crimes against civilians in the Moroccan Sahara.
Designating the Polisario militia as a terrorist organisation will have major repercussions on regional stability. It will contribute to its international isolation and reduce the support of traditional allies such as Algeria and South Africa, which are incubator states for terrorist groups, thus strengthening Morocco’s position regionally, continentally and internationally.
This decision will encourage more countries to recognise Morocco’s sovereignty over the southern provinces and open consulates in their cities. In this sense, it would strengthen Morocco’s comprehensive approach to stability in the Sahel and the Sahara by transforming the southern provinces into a giant economic forum that serves the peoples of the region.
Strategic shift and regional alliances
The US reaffirmation of its support for Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces is not just a circumstantial diplomatic position ; it reflects a strategic shift in Washington’s doctrine towards North Africa.
The US administration has come to view Morocco as a pivotal partner in the stability of the region, which is explained not only by the renewed recognition of the Moroccanness of the Sahara, but also by the qualitative shift in US rhetoric towards the Polisario, especially after increasing reports linking its elements to suspicious movements in the Sahel.
These statements cannot be separated from deeper endeavours to push the US administration to reclassify regional threats. Republican Congressman Joe Wilson does not speak from an individual position only, but expresses a current within the US legislative institution that sees the Polisario as a direct threat to Washington’s allies in Africa, led by Morocco.
The inclusion of the Polisario in the list of US terrorist organisations has become a possibility in the medium term if the escalation in the region continues and intelligence evidence multiplies about the involvement of some of its elements in activities that threaten regional security. At the same time, this decision will not be made solely based on political pressure, but it needs a strong legal and intelligence basis. However, the accumulation of data, along with pressure from political and media elites inside America, may speed up the step and give it a clear legal cover.
The political pressure that can be exerted by members of Congress like Joe Wilson, if continued in a systematic manner and based on documented reports, could help change the course of the debate within US institutions, including the State Department and the National Security Council. Any US move in this regard would not only be a card in Morocco’s hand; it could redraw the map of regional alliances in the Sahel-Sahara region.
The Tindouf camps are in turmoil : demands for autonomy and return to Morocco
The Tindouf camps on Algerian soil are witnessing popular protests and an unprecedented state of unrest after the new massacre committed by Algerian army forces recently against Sahrawi civilians, which left two dead and at least nine wounded.
According to informed local sources, these bloody events triggered a wave of popular protests inside the camps, amid widespread condemnation of the silence of the Polisario Front leadership and its failure to play any role in protecting the camps’ residents from repeated attacks.
Per testimonies from inside the camps, whose audio recordings are available online, the families of the victims quickly organized protest movements and formed pressure groups to demand an investigation into the circumstances of the crime and holding those responsible accountable. The situation has become worrying for the Polisario and the Algerian leadership, especially with the growing feelings of discontent towards the Algerian authorities, who continue to repress the population, in the face of the suspicious silence of the Polisario leadership, which is now widely perceived as a dependent body that has no sovereign decision or real will to defend those it claims to “represent.” The Polisario leadership is widely perceived as a subordinate body that has no sovereign decision or real will to defend its own people.
These angry voices in the Polisario-controlled camps raised unprecedented slogans, demanding an end to the long-standing suffering of Sahrawis while calling for the acceptance of the political solution proposed by the Kingdom of Morocco through the autonomy initiative if they continue to live in the reality of oppression and detention perpetuated by the corrupt ‘’leadership’’.
As part of its follow-up to human rights events, the Sahrawi Association for the Defence of Human Rights (ASADEDH) condemned what it described as the horrific massacre committed by the Algerian army in the ‘’Arkoub’’ district of the Dakhla camp, southwestern Algeria, which resulted in the death of two people and the injury of nine others, three of whom are in critical condition.
A unit of the Algerian army fired indiscriminately on unarmed Sahrawi civilians in an area about 150 kilometres from Rabouni, sparking widespread anger among the camp residents, especially after the identity of one of the victims was confirmed by the association.
The Madrid-based rights group called for “urgent intervention to protect civilians in the Tindouf camps,’’ urging all human rights organisations and bodies to ‘’condemn these acts and denounce what it described as the repeated interventions of the Algerian army against the camp residents.’’
Ramadan Massoud Larbi, President of the Sahrawi Association for the Defence of Human Rights -ASADEDH-, has said that what happened in the Arkoub district of Dakhla camp represents ‘“a serious slide in the series of violations against Sahrawi civilians inside the Tindouf camps.’’ According to Larbi, “the suspicious silence of the Polisario leadership towards this crime undermines the remaining confidence of Sahrawis in those who claim to represent their only legitimate representative.’’
The human rights activist further told the news website Hespress: “The protests that erupted following the massacre reflect the growing anger among Sahrawi youth, who can no longer accept being a victim of the power struggles between the Algerian army and the Polisario leadership.”’’ And he went warn that he told Hespress, stressing that “the security and humanitarian situation in the camps is becoming more fragile by the day, amid the absence of any real protection for the population.’’
Regarding the demands of the protesters, Larbi noted that “the escalation of calls to return to Morocco reflects the deep shift in the convictions of a large group of Sahrawis, who now consider joining the motherland as the only way to end their suffering, in light of the continued impunity and the absence of any prospect for dialogue inside the camps.’’
For its part, the Sahrawi NGO Alliance strongly condemned the heinous crime committed by a unit of the Algerian army inside the Tindouf camps, pointing out that what happened is a “premeditated murder’’ in blatant defiance of the principles of international humanitarian law.
In a statement received by Hespress, the coalition condemned what it described as the “terrible failure’’ of the Polisario organisation to protect civilians in the camps. In addition, the coalition accused the separatist group’s security elements of intervening to protect the perpetrators of the massacre, hiding evidence and thwarting any calls for investigation. In the absence of a legal status or UN protection for the residents of these camps surrounded by wire and sand walls, it pointed out, regular and independent international supervision is necessary to ensure respect for fundamental rights and freedoms in the Tindouf camps.
The same coalition called on UN mechanisms and states with universal jurisdiction to initiate judicial proceedings against those involved in these massacres, including the crime of burning Sahrawi youths in a gold mining well in 2022, and the aerial bombings that targeted civilians on the Algerian-Mauritanian border, stressing that “international silence on these violations fuels the cycle of impunity and undermines the chances of a political solution to the conflict.” In this context, Abdelwahab Elkayen, president of Africa Watch and deputy coordinator of the Alliance of Sahrawi NGOs, said: “We strongly condemn the targeting of unarmed Sahrawi civilians in the Tindouf camps, during the Arkoub massacre that took place on 9 April 2025, when the Algerian army opened fire on the unarmed residents of the Dakhla camp, killing many of them.’’ Elkayen also went on to lament to stress that ‘‘this incident raises questions about the repressive management of the camps.’’
‘‘The Algerian army intervened directly in the centre of the camps in a flagrant violation of human rights. The Polisario militias did not condemn this attack, but helped suppress the protesters who demanded the prosecution of those responsible,” he further lamented in a statement to Hespress. ’
“The protesting women were violently repressed by the Polisario forces, who threatened them with gunfire to intimidate them from protesting the killing of civilians. This incident shows the escalation of violations in the camps and the absence of any accountability.’’
Final word
This evolving issue of the Polisario’s status is a complex question, one that is deeply rooted in the geopolitical dynamics of the Maghreb, Africa and beyond. Although certain signs seem to have weakened the Polisario Front in recent years, it would be premature to announce the ‘’end” of the separatist group, even if its influence seems to be declining.
The Polisario has not disappeared, but it is weakened politically, diplomatically and militarily. The balance of power clearly favors Morocco, which is capitalizing on its autonomy initiative, regional development and the growing support of the international community.
As long as Algeria continues to support it, the Polisario will remain present, but increasingly isolated. However, if Trump’s administration lists it as a terrorist organization, Algeria, the protector of this organization will have no choice left but to try to get rid of it for fear of incurring the wrath of America and the Western world.
You can follow Professor Mohamed Chtatou on X : @Ayurinu
