Sadr representative in Canada quits and blasts Polisario leadership
Morocco, Politics, 6/30/1998

The representative of the so-called "Sahrawi Arab Democratic republic" (Sadr) in Canada has resigned from his position and applied for political asylum in the North American country, the Paris-based "Jeune Afrique" magazine reported.

In a letter sent to the Sadr leaders, Baba Sayyed, informed his former bosses that "the Polisario front is in a state of advanced decomposition," said the magazine, which terms the letter as a "declaration of war."

Baba Sayyed describes the Polisario leaders as "mediocre, without any collective political project and corrupted by the exercise of an absolute power that considers the struggle of the Sahrawi people only as a trade generating profits and personal privileges."

In order to take their fate in their hands, Sayyed adds, the Sahrawi people should first "deliver itself from the yoke of the Polisario and get rid of its tribal and archaic leadership, which denies the Sahrawis their most basic rights."

Commenting on Sayyed's resignation, "Jeune Afrique" said the decision exploded like a bomb in the silence of the desert, Map reported.

The Polisario has been dealt serious blows in the past, as several of its leaders fled its ranks and returned to the motherland (Morocco). These include former Sadr foreign minister and ambassador to Algeria, Brahim Hakim, and former Sadr representative in North America, Omar Hadrami.

"Jeune Afrique" wrote that "in the refugees tents of Tindouf (south-western Algeria, stronghold of the polisario), and in Algeria the news of Sayyed's resignation has been circulated clandestinely."

The resignation, which represents only the apparent part of the huge iceberg of disputes, gives a hint on to the realities of a fantom state, the magazine wrote.

Baba Sayyed is one of the Polisario's leading figures. He has been member of the Polisario since 1975, younger brother to Mustapha El Ouali, a Polisario founding father, and Bachir mustapha Sayyed, who has been Polisario's second-in-command for a long time.

He represented the polisario in France and Switzerland before being appointed in Canada in 1996.

Baba Sayyed says in his letter that his appointment in Canada helped him better analyze the situation and come to the conclusion that "the Polisario's collapse is inevitable."

He adds that he was invited by Mohamed Abdelaziz (the Polisario's leader) to come to settle the problem in Tindouf camps. "In jail or worse," he says.

Baba Sayyed reveals that his brother Bachir Mustapha Sayyed and other military leaders, including Brahim Ghali and Ayoub Lahbib, have been at loggerheads with the Polisario leadership for several months.

"Mohamed Abdelaziz is surrounded by sycophants, who drive new four-wheeled Toyotas, have drivers and chefs, while abject poverty prevails in the camps," the dissident writes, adding that "the least appointment, the smallest gratification are done on the basis of tribal segregation."

Previous Stories:
  Compaore: OAU can resort to vote to decide on SADR status   (6/12/1998)
  Morocco advances cause on Sahrawi-Sadr issue   (6/11/1998)

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