At least three members of the Polisario Front have been killed in an attack launched by Morocco near the separation wall in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR, Western Sahara) according to confirmation from the Sahrawi Presidency. Among those killed were Lehbib Mohamed Abdelaziz, a member of the group’s National Secretariat and son of former Sahrawi president Mohamed Abdelaziz. As a result, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic has declared three days of national mourning.
The Presidency indicated that Abdelaziz and two other Polisario Front members died during a military action in the area, as reported by the Sahrawi news agency SPS. Abdelaziz, 37, was the son of former Sahrawi president Mohamed Abdelaziz, who held the position from 1992 until his death in 2016.
Born in 1989 in the Sahrawi displaced persons camps in Algeria, Abdelaziz studied in Algeria before enlisting in the Polisario Front forces in 2011. He was appointed a member of the National Secretariat in 2024.
Moroccan authorities have not yet made any official statement on what occurred, though outlet Le Desk reports, citing “concordant sources,” that he died in a drone strike by the Moroccan Armed Forces.
The deceased was the son of the historic Polisario Front leader who served as the group’s secretary general from 1976 and as president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) for 24 years until his death, when he was succeeded by Brahim Ghali. Lehbib was considered a potential successor to the current leader.
Visit by the UN envoyThe death of Abdelaziz was confirmed during a new visit by the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, who arrived on Sunday at the refugee camps as part of a new diplomatic tour, according to SPS.
De Mistura subsequently met with Foreign Minister and chief negotiator Mohamed Yislem Beisat, UN representative Sidi Mohamed Omar, and the director of the cabinet of the Republic’s Presidency, Mohamed Molud Mohamed.
The Sahrawi minister explained that he discussed with the UN envoy the organization’s efforts toward finding a just, impartial and transparent solution that guarantees the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence, SPS reports.
In May, Ghali sent a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres defending the Polisario Front’s attacks against Moroccan bases in occupied Western Sahara as an act of legitimate self-defense against Rabat after declaring the 1991 ceasefire broken in November 2020.
The Polisario Front has suffered several diplomatic setbacks in recent years, as international support has grown for the autonomy plan put forward by Morocco—including backing from Spain and France. This proposal was flatly rejected by the SADR, which notes that Madrid remains the de jure administering power of the territory, pending decolonization.
The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 despite Polisario Front resistance, with whom it remained at war until 1991, when both parties signed a ceasefire with a view to holding a self-determination referendum. Disagreements over the drawing up of the electoral roll and whether or not to include Moroccan settlers have prevented it from being called to this day.
Polisario Front Warns Against Imposed Solutions in Western Sahara Conflict
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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