Polisario Front
The Polisario Front ( Frente Popular para la of Spanish Liberación de Saguia el Hamra y Río de Oro, Arabic الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير الساقية الحمراء ووادي الذهب al - dschabha ash -sha ʿ Biya li -Tahrir al- Sāqiya al -Hamra 'wa - Wādī ie - Dhahab, German popular Front for the liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro, just Polisario ) is a military and political organization in the Western Sahara. It represents liberal to socialist positions and is an observer member of the Socialist International.
History
The Polisario was founded in May 1973 by a group led by al - Sayyid Mustafa Wali, at the same time also began the conflict known as Western Sahara, armed independence struggle against the existing colony until 1975, Spanish Sahara. This was continued against Mauritania and Morocco, which the Western Sahara occupied by the Spanish withdrawal. Since 1976, Mohamed Abdelaziz is President of the Polisario. After a peace treaty with Mauritania in 1979, the confrontation went with Morocco until the beginning of the ceasefire agreement in 1991 on.
On February 24, 1985 shot fighters of the Polisario, a research aircraft of the Alfred Wegener Institute from on the way back from Antarctica. The crash of the POLAR 3 of the pilot Herbert Hampel, the co-pilot Richard Möbius and the mechanic Josef Schmid died.
After one of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants Report fled around 100,000 inhabitants of the Western Sahara from the fighting in the region of Tindouf in southwestern Algeria. There they live in refugee camps, whose population in the last 30 years, up to 155,000 people (as of 2006 ) was. In a joint decision of the High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP ), the number of aid recipients was reduced to 2006 from 158,000 to 90,000.
Current Situation
Brokered in 1991 by the United Nations cease-fire should be followed by a referendum on the future of the country. Despite existing arrangements it has not yet been carried out.
Today, the Western Sahara is divided by a border fortification, the Moroccan Wall in two zones: the west controlled Morocco, the east and south is held by the Polisario. The temporary headquarters of the Polisario government of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is located in Tindouf.
The movement is supported by Algeria and South Africa.