Fears grow of new Western Sahara war between Morocco and Polisario Front

RABAT/ ALGIERS, ( Reuters) - The Western Sahara’s Polisario Front group said yesterday that Morocco had broken their ceasefire and “ignited war”, but Rabat denied there had been any armed clashes and said the three-decade truce remained in place.

Yesterday’s flare- up poses the biggest risk in decades of a new phase of armed conflict in the remote desert region, adding to friction between Morocco and its biggest neighbour, Algeria, which backs the Polisario.

The Polisario representative in Europe, Oubi Bechraya, told Reuters there had been military confrontations with the exchange of fire yesterday, adding “we have declared a return to the armed struggle”.

However, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita denied there were clashes, saying the army had only fired warning shots.

“Morocco is committed to the ceasefire,” he told Reuters.

A diplomat familiar with the situation said heavy weapons fire was audible for about half an hour from the direction of a Moroccan military concentration near the site of Friday’s escalation.

Tensions between Morocco and the Algeria-backed independence movement have been growing in recent weeks, with pro-Polisario protesters, helped by armed fighters, blocking the main road linking the territory to neighbouring Mauritania.

Morocco said early on Friday it was starting an operation to clear the road in the Guerguerat area, located in a U.N.-monitored buffer zone where any armed activity breaches the 1991 ceasefire.

“Morocco decided to act after giving enough time for the U.N. to intervene,” Bourita said, adding that Morocco would build a new sand barrier to stop the Polisario from accessing Guerguerat in future.