Reps. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) introduced bipartisan legislation on Thursday seeking to designate Western Sahara’s Polisario Front movement as a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
“The Polisario is a Marxist militia backed by Iran, Hezbollah and Russia, providing Iran a strategic outpost in Africa and destabilizing the Kingdom of Morocco, a U.S. ally for 248 years,” Wilson stated.
The bill, H.R. 4119, would impose sanctions on the Polisario Front, which controls about 20% to 30% of Western Sahara, which it calls the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. (Morocco calls the area it controls the Sahara Provinces, and the entire territory the Moroccan Sahara.)
After launching an armed struggle against the Spanish occupation of the Western Sahara in the mid-1970s, then forcing out Mauritania, the Polisario Front—formed in Algeria and claiming representation of the Sahrawi ethnic group—fought Morocco for sovereignty of the land until a 1991 ceasefire.
The Polisario Front broke the ceasefire in 2020, resuming the conflict.
While the United Nations brokered an independence referendum in 1991, its implementation has been repeatedly delayed due to disagreements over voter eligibility and political will. Despite this, Morocco, which annexed the territory in 1979, has been gaining more recognition as the area’s sovereign.
In 2020, the Trump administration announced that the United States would recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for Morocco establishing relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords.
Critics accuse the Polisario Front of collaborating with Iran and proxies like Hezbollah. The Polisario Front reportedly receives drones and training from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with assistance from Algeria, and helps facilitate Iran’s presence in Africa.
