Dissent & Concern

More dissent within the Polisario Front

"Al Jazeeera" television and the "Al-Arabiya" channel broadcast programmes on 30 December and 31 December 2009 respectively, providing more indications of opposition coming from within the ranks of the Polisario Front.  The dissident group "Khatt Echahid" has called for dialogue with the current leadership of the Polisario Front, failing which it will seek to open direct negotiations with the Kingdom of Morocco.

On "Al Jazeera's" programme "Al Hassad Al Magharibi", broadcast on 30 December, "Khatt Echahid" called upon the Polisario Front's leadership to open a channel of dialogue under the aegis of an independent committee to debate the plight of the Saharawi Refugees detained in the Tindouf Camps in Algeria and to consider the prospects for a free and democratic settlement of the Western Saharan issue. 

Mr Mahjoub Salek, co-ordinator of "Khatt Echahid", told "Al Jazeera" that we gave a period of time to the Polisario leadership, within the camps, to initiate a dialogue and organise the extraordinary congress before 12 October 2010".  Mr Salek also said that "Khatt Echahid" considered itself to be "a reformist movement within the Polisario" and that if the Polisario leadership refuses to hold such a gathering, then the group would feel obliged to assume responsibility and declare itself to be in favour of engaging directly in negotiations with Morocco under the aegis of the United Nations, so as "to extract our own people from the suffering they have been enduring for 35 years under the authority of a leadership that does nothing but haggle over the misfortunes of our children and women in the camps."

On 31 December, Mr Mohammed Ould Mohammed Mbarek, another member of "Khatt Echahid" told "Al-Arabiya" that human rights in the Tindouf Camps were "catastrophic" and called upon the present leadership of the Polisario Front to resign and allow younger Saharawis to lead the movement.

Mr Mahjoub Essalek, another "Khatt Echahid" co-ordinator, told "Al-Arabiya" that he considered the current Polisario leadership to be "incompetent and corrupt" and that "after a period of 19 years of stalemate (no peace and no war)" the Polisario leadership "did not allow the Saharawi People to go forth" but were "just interested in gaining profits at the expense of the sufferings of Saharawi women and children in the Tindouf Camps."