Guerguerat Crisis

Maps

Map of the new wall built by Morocco in Guerguerat (2021)

[Author: Saleh Lehbib, for publication by CESO-USC]

Map with satellite images on the evolution of the illegal Moroccan customs office in Guerguerat (2005-2012-2019)

[Author: Elli Lorz] [Permission granted by the Author for CESO-USC]

Map of the violations by Morocco of the Military Agreement n. 1 in Guerguerat (2001-2020)

[Author: Elli Lorz] [source] [English edition permission granted by the Author for CESO-USC]

Map of the Guerguerat area and the developements of the Guerguerat crisis (2017-2019)

[Author: Elli Lorz] [source] [English edition permission granted by the Author for CESO-USC]

Physical and political map of the Western Sahara By the Spanish Army Geographical Service, 1960 (4. ed)

Map with the location of Guerguerat (Google maps)

Map of the implementation of the Military Agreement n. 1 in Western Sahara (MINURSO) (2007)

Analysis

Memorandum on the return of the war to the Western Sahara

Paper drafted by the Center for Studies on Western Sahara (CESO) of the University of Santiago de Compostela

[in Spanish] [in Portuguese] [in Arabic]

Relevant Texts

Military Agreement n. 1 between the Royal Moroccan Army and MINURSO on the one side and the Frente POLISARIO Military Forces and the MINURSO on the other side, December 1997

[Not published by the United Nations, but mentiones in paragraph 18 of the Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council S/1998/35]

Agreement between the United Nations and Morocco concerning the status of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, signed at New York on 11 February 1999

[mentioned in paragraphe 12 of the report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council S/1999/307]

Report of the Secretary-General, dated 24 April 2001, reporting Moroccan’s attempts to construct a road in the buffer zone (Guerguerat).

S/2001/398

Report of the Secretary-General, dated 20 June 2001, reporting Moroccan’s attempts to construct a road in the buffer zone (Guerguerat).

S/2001/613

Accusations of Morocco against the Polisario Front concerning alleged violations of the Military Agreement n. 1 (2018-2020)

Letter dated 1 April 2018 from the Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, concerning alleged violations by the "polisario" [sic] of the Military Agreement No. 1

S/2018/285

Aide-memoire on the regional dispute [sic] over the Moroccan [sic] Sahara in anticipation of the Security Council consultations of 17 April 2018, dated 13 April 2018

The accusations were dismissed on April 19, 2018, by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

Letter dated 17 May 2018, from the Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, denouncing alleged violations by the « polisario » (sic) of the Military Agreement n. 1

S/2018/473

Letter dated 21 May 2018, from the Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council,

Annex: Communiqué by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Morocco, on alleged violations of the Military Agreement n. 1 by the Polisario Front

S/2018/482

Letter dated 10 January 2019, from the Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, denouncing new alleged violations by the « polisario » (sic) of the Military Agreement n. 1

S/2019/35

The accusations were dismissed on January 11, 2019, by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

Letter dated 22 January 2020,denouncing the continuation by the “polisario” (sic) armed separatist group (sic) of its destabilizing actions (sic) for regional peace, security and stability in Guerguerat

S/2020/64

Response of the Polisario Front (2018)

Letter dated 2 April 2018 from the Permanent Representative of the Polisario Front to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council, responding to the Moroccan accusations.

S/2018/306

A memorandum on the Allegations of the Kingdom of Morocco on the buffer zone, 12 April 2018

Information note: The Ceasefire agreement and Military Agreement No. 1 related to Western Sahara, 16 April 2018

The views of the Frente Polisario on the questions raised by the Secretariat of the United Nations regarding the ceasefire and related agreements, 22 August 2018

S/2018/910 and S/2018/910/Rev.1

Fresh Tensions October-November 2020

Documents of the POLISARIO Front

Letter dated 23 October 2020 from the Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council the POLISARIO Front denounces a breach in Guerguerat to facilitate the Moroccan trade

S/2020/1048 [Original Letter dated 22 October 2020 addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General denouncing a breach in Guerguerat to facilitate the Moroccan trade]

Press Release of the Representative of the Frente Polisario at the United Nations,concerning the situation in Guerguerat, 30 October 2020

Briefing of the Frente Polisario on the situation in Guerguerat, 8 November 2020

Press Release of the SADR Ministry of Information, 9 November 2020

Press Release of the SADR Ministry of Information, 13 November 2020 [in Spanish]

Statement of the SADR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 13 November 2020 [in Spanish] [in French]

Letter from Brahim Ghali, Secretary-General of Frente POLISARIO, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, 20 November 2020

Annex to the letter dated 20 November 2020 from the Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council

S/2020/1131

Explanatory note: "The collapse of the Ceasefire in Western Sahara owing to Morocco's Agression on the Sahrawi Territory on 13 November 2020", 22 November 2020

Documents of the Kingdom of Morocco

Speech of Mohamed VI regarding the situation in Guerguerat and asking Spain to negotiate on the Western Sahara continental shelf, 7 November 2020

Communiqué of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Morocco has launched an operation to restore the traffic at the Guerguerat crossing", 13 November 2020 [in French]

Communiqué of the Royal Cabinet concerning the conversation held between the King of Morocco and the United Nations Secretary-General, 16 November 2020 [in French]

Letter from the Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council [S/2020/1133], 23 November 2020

Position of Spain

Official Statement 081-2020, Support for UN in guaranteeing ceasefire in Western Sahara, 13 November 2020

Position of the African Union

AU Chair calls for calm between Sahrawis and Morocco, Press statement issued on behalf of the President of the Republic of South Africa and Chairperson of the African Union, 12 November 2020

Published also as United Nations official document S/2020/1132

Statement of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, on the tensions in the Guerguerat buffer zone, 14 Novembre 2020

Position of the European Union

Western Sahara: Borrell talks with Bourita and Boukadoum, 15 November 2020 [in French]

Position of Germany

Statement by the Federal Foreign Office on the events in Western Sahara, 16 November 2020 [in German]

Position of France

Statement of the spokes-woman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 17 November 20020 [in French]

Posittion of the United States of America

Remarks by Secretary of State, Michael R. Pompeo, at the IISS Manama Dialogue, 4 December 2020