In its report published last week, the Hudson Institute, a research center on geostrategic issues, detailed the arguments for designating the Polisario as a terrorist organization.
according to the report, “the Western Sahara conflict—once a Cold War–era standoff between Morocco and a separatist insurgency—has reemerged as a volatile front in today’s great power rivalry. No longer frozen, it now poses a direct challenge to American security interests”.
The report considered that the Polisario Front, a paramilitary organization formed in Algeria in 1973, which presents itself as a movement for self-determination, is a destabilizing militia—smuggling arms, indoctrinating young Moroccans and Sahrawis.
For the report’s author, Zineb Riboua, the Polisario Front’s activities far exceed the criteria for a terrorist classification. First, it violates the 1991 UN-brokered ceasefire agreement, “diverts humanitarian aid to fund its militant infrastructure; collaborates with foreign terrorist organizations…; receives drones from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a transfer facilitated by the Algerian regime; and smuggles weapons to jihadist insurgents who threaten US forces in the Sahel.”
“Designating the Polisario as an FTO would do more than cripple a proxy network. It would strengthen the US position in great power competition, demonstrate Washington’s commitment to its allies, and serve as a warning to America’s enemies” explained again.
The report reminded that in 2020, President Donald Trump broke from America’s longstanding yet ineffective policy toward the region by officially recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
In this regard and as to move toward long-term stability in the region, the author of the report called the United States to “take the next step and designate the Polisario Front as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO)”. Congressman Joe Wilson has pledged legislation to expose the Polisario threat. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio endorsed Morocco’s autonomy plan presented by Morocco, as the only credible path to peace, the report recalls.
Other western politicians including Sir Liam Fox, ex- Defense and Trade Secretary of UK, have called the western governments to “move quickly to designate this group a terrorist organization”.
*Zineb Riboua is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Middle East Peace and Security. She specializes in Chinese and Russian involvement in the Middle East, the Sahel, and North Africa.
