Mohamed Abdelaziz
Mohamed Abdelaziz ( born August 17, 1947 in Marrakech, Morocco; Arabic محمد عبد العزيز, Muḥammad ʿ Abd al - DMG ʿ Azeez ) is a politician of the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara and the President not generally recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Career
Abdelaziz comes from a Sahrawi Bedouin family, whose members belong to a sub-tribe of the eastern Reguibat. This went about in the Sahara between Spanish Sahara, Mauritania, Algeria and southern Morocco. His father Khelili Mohamed Salem Rguibi is a Moroccan officer who stands up for the whereabouts of the Western Sahara in Morocco. He is a Fellow of the Royal Konsultivrates for Saharan Affairs. He is thus a political opponent of his son.
As a young student at Moroccan universities at the beginning of the 1970s, he tended to Saharan nationalism and was one of the founding members of the Frente Polisario, the independence movement in Western Sahara, which in 1973 took up an armed struggle against Spanish colonialism.
Abdelaziz since August 30, 1976 Secretary General of the Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguia el Hamra y Río de Oro ( Popular Front for the Liberation German about the Saguia el Hamra and the Oro River ). He replaced Mahfoud Ali Beiba that temporarily held the post after Ouali Mustapha Sayed El- was killed in Mauritania in combat. Since that time he has also been President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, the first constitution, he has worked with.
Abdelaziz lives in exile in a refugee camp in the province of Tindouf in southwestern Algeria.
According to former members of the Polisario Abdelaziz was " chosen " by Algeria to stand at the head of the organization, although he did not belong to the inner circle of leadership.
Political Profile
Abdelaziz is regarded as a secular nationalist. He contributed more recently the Polisario and Western Sahara towards a political compromise. He supported the 2003 United Nations Baker Plan. Under his leadership, the Polisario turned from its previous guidance of an Arab Socialism, in favor of a classification in liberal- democratic ranks. This is manifested through a commitment to a multi-party system and market economy. Abdelaziz sought the support of the United States and the European Union, but so far with little success.
Within the organization, Abdelaziz is criticized because it prevents reforms in the movement, and would hold on a diplomatic course, instead of resume the armed struggle. This is favored by some in the movement, because in the negotiations with Morocco a few concessions were achieved. The best-known opposition group within the Frente Polisario is the Chat al - Shahid, who wants to restore the legacy of Abdelaziz 's predecessor El Ouali.
Abdelaziz denounced terrorism and insists that the guerrilla struggle is not allowed to be directed against civilians and their property. After the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, Madrid and London, he sent the governments concerned condolences. He did this also after the al -Qaida attacks on 16 May 2003 in Casablanca.