Polisario: Fight with Morocco "Won't Stop" until Self-determination

The leader of the Western Sahara independence movement says that fighting with Morocco will continue across a long wall cutting through Africa's vast desert until the international community delivers on an unfulfilled promise of self-determination for the Saharawi people, AP reported.

The United Nations considers Western Sahara as Africa's last territory to be decolonized, but its envoys have failed to set the stage for a referendum on its future since a ceasefire was signed 30 years ago between Morocco, which had annexed it in 1975, and the independence-seeking Polisario Front.

[caption id="attachment_279637" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Soldiers from the Polisario Front pack after a National Unity Day event in the Dajla refugee camp, Algeria, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)[/caption]

The conflict has received renewed attention due to growing frustration among the Saharawi people, but also after the United States last year disregarded the U.N. efforts by backing Morocco's claim to sovereignty over the entire disputed territory.

In a rare public appearance following a long convalescence for COVID-19 this year, Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali on Tuesday defended his movement's decision in November 2020 to call off the 1991 ceasefire.

"There will be neither peace, nor stability, nor a just and lasting solution to the Moroccan-Saharawi conflict unless the U.N. Security Council assumes its responsibilities in responding frankly and firmly to the aggressive and expansionist practices of the Moroccan occupying power," Ghali said in a speech to hundreds of Saharawis at the Dajla refugee camp in Algeria's southern Tindouf province.