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Polisario Front

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Polisario Front

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Also known as Polisario, Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro

political and military organization

Key facts

Secretary general
Brahim Ghali
Founder
El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed , … and others
Founded
10 May 1973, (53 years, 24 days)
Preceded by
Harakat Tahrir PUNS (after 1975)
Headquarters
Sahrawi refugee camps , Tindouf Province , Algeria
Youth wing
Sahrawi Youth Union
Women s wing
National Union of Sahrawi Women
Trade union affiliation
Sahrawi Trade Union
Armed wing
Sahrawi People's Liberation Army
Ideology
Sahrawi nationalism , Arab nationalism , Arab socialism , Secularism , 1973–1991: , Marxism
Political position
Left-wing , 1973–1991: , Far-left
Regional affiliation
PSOM (historical)
International affiliation
Sovintern , Progressive Alliance , Socialist International (consultative)
Colors
Orange (main) Pan-Arab colours Red Green Black White
Anthem
صحراؤنا هي الوطن , ( literal translation</span>"}]]}'>lit. ' Our Sahara is Homeland ' )
Sahrawi national council
51 / 51 (100%)
Pan african parliament
5 / 5 (100%) (Sahrawi Republic seats)

via Wikipedia infobox

~23 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro, better known by its acronym Polisario Front, is a Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to end the occupation of Western Sahara through armed resistance and political advocacy.

Tracing its origin to a Sahrawi nationalist organization known as the Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Wadi el Dhahab, the Polisario Front was formally constituted in 1973 with the intention of launching an armed struggle against the Spanish occupation which lasted until 1975, when the Spanish decided to allow Mauritania and Morocco to partition and occupy the territory. The Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) on 27 February 1976, and waged a war to drive out the two armies. It forced Mauritania to relinquish its claim over Western Sahara in 1979 and continued its military campaign against Morocco until the 1991 ceasefire, pending the holding of a UN-backed referendum which has been consistently postponed ever since. In 2020 the Polisario Front declared the ceasefire over and resumed the armed conflict.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Polisario Front” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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