Frente POLISARIO

The reality of the widening category of irregular warfare and the raising
quantity of radical units all around the world arrived in an unprecedented pace in the 21st century’s security environment. The decisions on designating and labeling „terrorist groups” were always surrounded with terminological debates, diverse state interests, and different perception of security. Thereby handling and countering their attacks and secondary
destabilizing effects are hardly-cooperative among larger alliances. Of course, we might not exclude the good examples of international peacekeeping and countermeasures, such as it is happening in the case of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab or other specific organizations. But in
some cases, the methods of engagement, the continuously shaping security environment, shifts in ideology or other factors should influence the classification of a „terrorist group”, which might be questioned by individuals, ethnic groups, states or the international community itself.
This was the situation with the Polisario Front group as well, which in some cases was labeled as terrorist organization, while other papers mentioned it as a separatist group or an organized crime unit. However, in the eyes of the world, the Front still is the legitimate representative of
the Sahrawi’s people and a liberating organization responsible for its people. In this analysis, my main aim is to concentrate on these accusations against the Polisario Front, and its actual activity and connections with organized crime groups and highlight the facts, which exclude the Polisario Front from being a terrorist organization
Keywords: Polisario Front, terrorist group, organized crime group, liberation movement, legal representative of Sahrawis, International law, Morocco, Mauritania, SADR, AQIM.

The study addresses how the struggle of a people take shape of the National Liberation Movement to empowering in front of the international community, legitimizing their anticolonial discourse and taking Republic corpus. The POLISARIO Front elevates a process that continues to lead the Saharawi vindication as social movement base. Spain colonized the Sahara since the end of the nineteenth century until February 1976 when left the territory, previously they has agreed an agreement for the Sahara invasion by the Kingdom of Morocco which continues occupying militarily the territory 38 years later. Although from de beginning of the conflict the UN took up the issue, has only served to discredit an organization that has been unable to lead them to what determines international law: the referendum on self-determination of the Saharawi people.

By the 19th century, Spain had lost its great power status and a significant portion of its former colonies. It was still able to keep its colonies in North and West Africa at this time, and the Spanish did everything they could to keep it that way. Doing so, one of the most effective instruments of the Spanish Government was the Spanish Legion, the Tercio, which, from its inception, was almost inseparable from the Spanish African colonies, the Spanish-Morocco, the Sidi Ifni, and the Spanish Sahara. However, the Spaniards could not stop the wheels of time. In the 20th century, African countries regained their independence one after the other, at the cost of liberating struggles and sometimes by peaceful means. However, Spain did not want to relinquish the territories under its rule and fought for a long time to keep them. However, within just 20 years they lost them all. In my study, I present this process with an emphasis on the role of the Legion in it.

Explica aspectos poco conocidos de la entrega, por España, del Sáhara Occidental a Marruecos y Mauritania, la 'Marcha Verde' marroquí, los Acuerdos Tripartitos de Madrid, el papel de EE UU, las responsabilidades de España como Potencia administradora, el comportamiento de la prensa y los partidos políticos, y la desinformación mediática.

RESUMEN: El llamado “Diferendo del Sáhara” es un contencioso internacional que ha mutado con el tiempo. Se inició como parte de un proceso de descolonización, pronto se transformó en un conflicto ideológico y geopolítico típico de la Guerra Fría y hoy sobrevive como un problema de separatismo alimentado por las rivalidades y pujas por la hegemonía en el Magreb.

La tensión diplomática con Marruecos ha vuelto a revelar el incómodo problema del Sáhara Occidental. Desde 1970, un pueblo lucha sin éxito por la autodeterminación y el reconocimiento internacional ante los titubeos de la ONU, la anexión de Marruecos
y la anuencia española. De fondo, un derecho a la descolonización que nunca prescribe.

A pesar de la escasez de trabajos académicos comparativos, existe una estrecha relación entre Cuba y el Sáhara Occidental. Dicho vínculo fue labrándose durante la Guerra Fría, desde la ayuda, el respeto y una postura compartida frente a procesos de emancipación social. El presente artículo reflexiona sobre las implicaciones de la movilidad y las políticas de control migratorio de estas dos experiencias que, a pesar de sus distancias geográficas y diferencias históricas, desarrollaron proyectos políticos basados en la construcción de sociedades igualitarias bajo la ideología socialista. Los discursos y regulaciones establecidos sobre la migración en uno y otro caso muestran evidentes conexiones entre ambos proyectos políticos y sus pretensiones de perdurabilidad.

In the beginning of February 2003, as a young captain of the Hungarian Armed Forces, I arrived for a one-year peacekeeping service in the United Nations Operation in Western Sahara (MINURSO). At that time, I had already had more than a decade of military service, so I considered myself quite prepared for peacekeeping work, but it was embarrassing that no one could provide meaningful information about the background of the Western Sahara conflict during the training of Hungarians,
despite the fact that Hungarian police and Hungarian soldiers had been serving in the UN mission in Western Sahara (the former between 1996 and 2000, the latter since 2000).
In addition, the operation was then led by a Hungarian general, Major General György Száraz, who also briefed the Hungarian military and political leadership on MINURSO’s activities. Nonetheless, when I tried to access information about the area, everyone shook their head and told me there was no background material, but if I checked the mission’s website I was going to be smarter. So I ended up in an operation where I took part in a week-long training organized by the UN and then, passing all the exams successfully, I was transferred to the Mehaires camp in the northern sector, where I spent 7 months. I then went to the mission headquarters in Laayounne.
During my stay abroad, I tried to learn as much as I could about the conflict in Western Sahara. I conducted interviews with Sahrawi and Moroccan soldiers who had fought in the war between 1975 and 1991, and with several of those people who had served in the area during different periods of MINURSO. I visited the scene of the battles and took thousands of photos of the area and the settlers.
In addition, I got my hands on and read all the material available on the issue of Western Sahara. Many of the peacekeepers and civilian staff on duty also helped with the collection of material, so by the end of my field service, I had produced a nearly 200-page book that was published in English in 2009. After that, I also graduated from Zrínyi Miklós University of National Defense, the Doctoral School of Military Sciences, where my research topic was the issue of Western Sahara, which I have been dealing with since I obtained my academic degree.