Front Polisario Khat al-Shahid
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Front Polisario Khat al-Shahid (Khat al-Shahid, often w. Spanish transliteration as Jat Achahid, is Arabic for Line of the Martyr) is a minor faction within the Front Polisario. It is based in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria, but also has supporters and members in the Sahrawi diaspora in Mauritania, Spain and various European countries, as well as in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.
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[edit] Creation and relation to Polisario
The organization announced its existence in 2004, stating that it had to move outside the Polisario in order to help correct the front's faulty practices. It accused the Polisario leadership of being undemocratic, not caring enough for families of fallen soldiers and the army, and of bowing to Moroccan pressure. The Polisario refused to respond or recognize the organization, insisting that differences be solved within the established system. However, there have been no reports of police intervention against members. Its activities at this stage do not seem to go beyond publishing pamphlets against the present Polisario leadership, and while it may affect internal Sahrawi politics, it is of minimal or no significance to the Western Sahara conflict.
Its relation to Polisario remains slightly ambiguous. Khat al-Shahid considers itself still technically part of Polisario, and labels itself a reformist movement, but works outside its established system to change it. Its Tindouf-based members remain active in the Polisario administration and armed forces.
[edit] Politics and ideology
The Khat al-Shahid uses the slogan "No hero but the people, no leader but the martyr", referring to El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed, the first Secretary-General of Polisario, who was killed in battle in Mauritania 1976. It says it wants to restore El-Oualis legacy ("the line of the Martyr"). Like Polisario, it has no explicit ideology apart from liberating Western Sahara, but in its statements it emphasizes militancy and revolutionary action. Its main political goal seems to be the removal of the present Polisario leadership, which it claims stands in the way of Sahrawi independence and refugee return, as well as internal reforms of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Khat al-Shahid has repeatedly decried the failure of the United Nations-backed peace process. It accuses the Polisario leadership of "defeatist reasoning" and of caving in to pressures (especially in accepting the Baker Plan), claiming that it benefits from the political stagnation caused by the cease fire. It stresses the gains made during the war years (1975-91) and claims the Abdelaziz government has let the Sahrawi army decay during the cease fire, and ignored the plight of veterans and war widows. It also severely criticizes the UN's Minurso mission for being biased in favor of Morocco. For these reasons, Khat al-Shahid has argued that the guerrilla war against Morocco should resume. There seems to exist significant support for this position in the refugee camps, but it is not known if the Khat al-Shahid has successfully managed to exploit that. Overall, support for the organization sieems to remain very small.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Khat al-Shahid homepage Arabic, French, and Spanish
