Source: Moroccan American Center for PolicyEfforts of top Polisario police official Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud to encourage an end of the 35-year-old Western Sahara stalemate through an autonomy solution hit a major roadblock this week. He revealed that the Polisario has threatened him with arrest if he tries to rejoin his family in Algeria's Tindouf refugee camps and share his support for Morocco's compromise autonomy plan as the best solution to reunite Sahrawis. Sidi Mouloud announced his backing for the plan on a UN-sponsored family visit to southern Morocco to see his father for the first time in 31 years. The Polisario denounced his statement as treason and warned that Sidi Mouloud faced arrest on his return. He is now encamped in Zouirate, Mauritania, close to Algeria's border on the long road back to Tindouf.
"To freely express one's opinion is treason?" Sidi Mouloud asked incredulously in a TV interview, according to the weekly Paris news magazine Jeune Afrique. "My personal security no longer depends on me alone, from now on it's the responsibility of the whole world." Appeals have been made to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by Sahrawi groups urging steps to ensure Sidi Mouloud's safety in Tindouf.
Last month in Smara, Morocco, he said, "After 31 years of separation I was able to meet my father and my relatives. I took the opportunity to tour Morocco. I was impressed by Morocco's major progress in different sectors and the major development boom in the Sahrawi territories, which made me change my position." The Polisario leader said Morocco's autonomy plan was the best option for Sahrawis to "achieve our main objective"—preserving their culture and identity.
Sidi Mouloud, son of Sheikh Salma Mouloud, leader of the Rguibat tribe (largest in W. Sahara), vowed to share his views back in Tindouf, and urged Sahrawis to set aside differences and engage in dialogue to resolve the conflict.
"Sidi Mouloud has shown great courage in recognizing the new realities in the Sahara and real opportunities for Sahrawis to build a future," said Robert M. Holley, Executive Director, Moroccan American Center for Policy. "He has literally put his life on the line to speak his mind and do what is best to bring Sahrawis together. That is true leadership; other Polisario officials should take a lesson."
"The international community and human rights advocates should also pay closer attention," said Holley. "No clearer case can be made for the urgent need to enforce international guarantees on refugee rights to freedom of movement and freedom of expression—not to mention personal safety. If refugees in Tindouf could exercise these rights today, all Sahrawis would have a future and this long dispute would be history."
"Unfortunately, most Polisario leaders and their Algerian hosts appear intent to continue the old politics and create new provocations that prolong the conflict and drive Sahrawis apart. Witness plans by Polisario supporters to launch a flotilla from Spanish waters to W. Sahara in the New Year. Unless the international community intervenes, this action will likely raise tensions in the region and derail prospects for successful negotiations. That is not responsible leadership, nor does it serve the Sahrawi people's interest."
Today, more than 17,000 refugees are wait-listed for the UN Family Visit program and most wait years to see families. On April 6, UN Sec. General Ban Ki-moon reported the parties to the conflict agreed to build a road from Tindouf to Morocco so more refugees can visit. So far this year, as many as 1,800 refugees have escaped the camps on their own, making the dangerous trek across open desert to reach Moroccan Sahara.
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