After re-election, Polisario's Ghali vows more Sahrawi resistance

After being re-elected as head of Western Sahara's pro-independence Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali vowed to intensify 'armed struggles'.

In an interview with Euronews, Ghali accused Morocco of breaking a ceasefire agreed in 1991.

The UN-backed truce broke down in November 2020 after Morocco sent troops to the far south of the Western Sahara to disperse Sahrawi protesters who were blocking the sole highway to Mauritania.

"We entered a process in 1991, believing that it was a just world, a world that respects its commitments, a world that respects international legality," Ghali told Euronews.

The Polisario separatists in Western Sahara re-elected Ghali on Friday as head of the movement, in a context of heightened tensions between their Algerian ally and Morocco, which controls 80% of the territory.

Mr. Ghali, 73, was reappointed for a new three-year term as Polisario secretary general in a vote attended by 1,870 delegates at a congress that opened on January 13 in southern Algeria. in a Sahrawi refugee camp 175 km from the town of Tindouf, indicated the official Sahrawi news agency SPS.

Mr. Ghali, in office since 2016, obtained 69% of the vote against 31% for his rival Bechir Moustafa, according to the agency.

His re-election was hardly in doubt since he seems to enjoy the indispensable support of Algiers.

The Western Sahara conflict has pitted Morocco against the Polisario front, supported by Algeria, since the disengagement in 1975 of Spain, the former colonial power.