Polisario leadership under fire with as petition calls for Brahim Ghali's departure
Brahim Ghali's leadership of the Polisario Front is facing unprecedented internal contestation. As the movement marks its 52nd anniversary this Saturday, May 10, a group of Sahrawis has chosen the symbolic date to launch a petition calling for Ghali's departure.
The signatories—composed of mid-level cadres and critics of the current political line—are demanding the «holding of an extraordinary congress by September 2025 (...) to present new policies capable of saving our people's cause and their struggle».
They stress that this timeline «must be preceded by the adoption of appropriate laws». The petition's initiators hope the proposed congress «will bring together all Sahrawis who believe in the ideology of the Popular Front and in the aspirations of the Sahrawi people for freedom and independence».
Echoes of Bachir Sayed's Appeal
The petition calls for «a radical break with the practices and policies that have brought us to a deadlock, and the establishment of new revolutionary foundations that uphold democracy and good governance». It promotes principles of «dialogue, tolerance, and reconciliation without disdain or exclusion, to create the conditions for broad consensus».
The document also calls for «the election of a competent and unified leadership capable of meeting our people's aspirations for equality, dignity, justice, and freedom».
The signatories emphasize the need to «develop a serious and coherent strategy that will enable future Sahrawi generations to fully take charge of the national liberation project».
The petition aligns closely with the call issued in July 2024 by Bachir Mustapha Sayed, who urged the convening of an extraordinary congress to «save the Polisario from extinction». Sayed has been openly critical of Brahim Ghali's tenure, which began in July 2016, particularly the consequences of the «resumption of war» against Morocco on November 13, 2020.
The publication of the petition follows a meeting on April 30 in Algiers between Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Brahim Ghali. It also coincides with the return to the Tindouf camps of Abdekader Taleb Omar, following the end of his tenure as the Polisario's representative in Algiers—a post often seen as a stepping stone to leadership. Before his departure, Taleb Omar was appointed a member of the Polisario's permanent bureau and named «Minister of Education».
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