Washington-Based Global Center Challenges Moroccan Propaganda, Affirming That Attempts to Label the Polisario Front as Terrorist Aim to Criminalize a Liberation Struggle for Self-Determination

 

 

The Global Center for Monitoring has categorically rejected efforts to place the Polisario Front on the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list, arguing that the initiative represents a political attempt to distort the nature of the Sahrawi issue and transform a question of decolonization and an inherent right to self-determination into a terrorism case.

In a letter addressed to U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, the Center stated that H.R. 4119 is based on inaccurate and misleading claims about the Polisario Front, warning that the adoption of such legislation would undermine efforts toward peace and justice and damage the credibility of the international process aimed at enabling the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to self-determination.

The Center stressed that Western Sahara is not an ordinary border or sovereignty dispute, but a decolonization issue, whose core is the right of the Sahrawi people to freely determine their political future in accordance with the principles of international law.

It further stated that the Polisario Front was founded in 1973 in the context of the struggle against Spanish colonialism, before becoming the principal Sahrawi party to the conflict. The Center noted that the United Nations treats the Polisario Front as the representative of the Sahrawi people in the political process, while the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a full member of the African Union.

The Center argued that attempts to portray the Polisario Front as a “terrorist militia” ignore the movement’s history, the context in which it was established, and the nature of the cause it represents. It said such efforts seek to delegitimize the struggle of a people demanding their right to self-determination and independence.

The Center also rejected allegations linking the Polisario Front to Iran, Hezbollah, or extremist organizations, arguing that, according to its letter, these accusations are not supported by credible evidence. Using such allegations to justify designating the Front as a terrorist organization, it warned, would turn the term “terrorism” into a political tool for rewriting the history of the conflict.

The Center warned that criminalizing the Polisario Front would not address the root causes of the conflict. Instead, it would exclude one of the parties to the conflict from the political process, thereby threatening prospects for negotiations and undermining international efforts to achieve a just and lasting solution.

The Center concluded that justice in the Western Sahara issue begins with recognizing its nature as a decolonization question, acknowledging the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination, and recognizing their legitimate political representation in the UN-led process, away from campaigns of defamation and political pressure.