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The Polisario Front, which seeks an independent Western Sahara, urged world bodies Friday to pressure Morocco over its use of migration for leverage in the conflict over the territory.
An unprecedented 8,000 people swam or took boats from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta earlier this week, following tensions over Madrid’s decision to host and treat the leader of the Polisario for Covid-19.
Analysts have said Rabat allowed the incident in order to pressure Madrid into following a US move under former president Donald Trump to recognise Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The Polisario on Friday issued its first official reaction to the Ceuta incident.
“We urgently call on the United Nations, African Union and European Union to compel Rabat to stop aggression” and Rabat’s “illegal annexation and occupation of Western Sahara”, the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)’s foreign ministry said.
In a statement, it said Rabat’s “aggressiveness” towards Spain was a response to “the international community’s… rejection of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara”.
Morocco had mistakenly “relied… on certain member countries” of the EU to endorse Trump’s statement, it continued.
Morocco laid claim to the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony with rich phosphate resources and offshore fisheries, after Spain withdrew in 1975.
But the Polisario Front took up arms to demand independence there, proclaiming the SADR in 1976 and fighting a 16-year war with Morocco.
A UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991 left each side in control of part of the territory, but has never resulted in a long-awaited referendum over its status.
Rabat refuses to accept any vote in which full independence is an option, offering autonomy instead.
The truce has broken down in recent months, fuelled by the Trump administration in December backing Morocco’s claim to the territory in exchange for Rabat normalising ties with Israel, and Morocco killing Polisario police chief Addah al-Bendir in a suspected drone strike in April.
Spain’s move to host Polisario leader Brahim Ghali for treatment for Covid-19 infuriated Rabat, which is a critical partner in the EU’s struggle against clandestine migration.
Spain maintains that a solution to the issue can only come from a United Nations-brokered agreement.
During a radio interview on Wednesday, Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said Madrid “could not” change its position because Spain “respects international law”.