Western Sahara's Polisario Front elects leader
The Sahrawi people have a new chief and a persistent determination to establish recognition from Morocco, one way or the other.
TINDOUF, Algeria — The newly elected president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), Brahim Ghali, is calling for a peaceful settlement of its decades-long quest for independence.
He made it known, however, that Sahrawis are ready to fight for their freedom.
In a July 9 election in a Sahrawi refugee camp in Algeria, the indigenous people of the Moroccan-occupied territory in disputed Western Sahara chose Ghali as their president and secretary-general of their liberation movement, the Polisario Front. Ghali replaces longtime leader Mohamed Abdelaziz, who died May 31.
Ghali was one of the front's founding members. He led the movement's first military operation against Spain in 1973. In 1991, he began a new career as a diplomat, holding different posts, from Polisario’s representative in Spain to its ambassador in Algeria.
