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"From now on, all our efforts must focus on armed struggle, as this is the only way to achieve Independence,” said Dahba Mohamed, a participant in the 2023 Congress.
On Thursday, the Polisario Liberation Front members approved intensifying their armed struggle against the Moroccan troops that occupy Western Sahara.
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"This meeting must constitute a break with the past. From now on, all our efforts must focus on armed struggle, as this is the only way to achieve Independence,” said Dahba Mohamed, a participant in the Polisario Front's 2023 Congress held at the Dakhla city refugee camp.
This congress, which is the first that the Polisario Front holds since the break of the ceasefire with Morocco in 2020, will comprise the election of a new Secretary for the Front and President for the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (RASD).
Current Secretary Brahim Gali and congressman Bachir Mustafa are the candidates for this position. Mustafa, a prominent diplomatic negotiator, spearheaded the signing of the peace agreement with Mauritania in 1979 and headed the Front delegation that met with Moroccan King Hassan II in Marrakech in 1989.
Polisario is a freedom movement, and they are justified to use any means available to fight for their right to statehood, land and dignity. pic.twitter.com/it4oV75X1k
— Communist Party of Kenya (@CommunistsKe) January 17, 2023
Meanwhile, Gali is a prominent guerrilla fighter who led the May 1973 Janga battle, the first against Spanish colonial control in Western Sahara, and defied Morocco’s decision to build a road in Guerguerat, the border crossing between Western Sahara and Mauritania.
In the Congress, the members of the Polisario Front also agreed to improve the situation of over 170,000 Sahrawi refugees who reside in camps in Algeria, as well as those of the Sahrawians living in the Morocco-dominated territories, which currently account for over 80 percent of Western Sahara.
Over 370 international guests, including representatives of the Spanish left-wing party "United, We Can" (Unidas Podemos) and 2,200 Saharawi people, have participated in the meeting, which will last until Saturday.
Protests by the Saharawi diaspora and solidarity movements were held around Spain demanding that Spain comply with the decolonization of the Western Sahara
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) November 14, 2020
after 45 years of occupation and the end of the ceasefire.pic.twitter.com/B6T9pOqWkZ
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