Senator Ted Cruz Slams US Officials For Avoiding Reference To Polisario Terror Links
RABAT, MOROCCO – US Senator Ted Cruz has sharply criticized administration officials for repeatedly avoiding any direct reference to the Polisario Front, despite documented links to the separatist group instigating terror activities that destabilize the region.
Cruz made his remarks during a Senate hearing on counterterrorism efforts in North Africa and the Sahel this week.
During the hearing, he pointed a rebuke to US officials for what he described as a deliberate refusal to acknowledge the Polisario and its links to terrorism.
He also noted a contradiction between praising Algeria as a “critical pillar of stability in the region” and vaguely warning of terrorist activity in the Sahel without naming the parties involved.
Algeria’s regime has been hosting, financing, arming, and sheltering the Polisario Front, a separatist group claiming independence in Western Sahara.
Several reports link Polisario’s involvement in terrorist activities.
In 2017, Morocco’s security services identified 100 Polisario members who are associated with ISIS.
In 2021, French authorities killed Adnan Abdu Walid al-Sahrawi, the leader of a terror group known as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
Al Sahrawi was also a former member of the Polisario Front.
Cruz also pointed out Iran’s proxy Hezbollah’s collusion with Polisiario.
“Iran is trying to turn the Polisario Front into the Houthis for West Africa, a proxy force capable of waging war to threaten regional stability and pressure US partners wherever Iran wants leverage,” the senator said.
He recalled Polisario’s work with Iranian “terrorist groups,” taking drones from the IRGC and moving weapons and resources around the region, including to other groups instigating terrorist acts.
“I believe they should be designated as a terrorist group, and I’ve drafted a bill to do so if there is no change in their behavior,” Cruz added.
For Cruz, the officials delivered nothing of substance
Senior Bureau Official Robert Palladino responded to Cruz’s question by repeatedly steering away from directly addressing the senator’s question.
Instead, he shifted to broader diplomatic language, conveying US’ commitment to achieve a lasting solution to the Western Sahara dispute.
When Cruz pressed the official about the possibility of designating Polisario as a terrorist group, Palladino made similar remarks – stating the US is “constantly assessing threats to the American homeland.”
Cruz responded to Palladino’s remarks, insinuating that they were merely talking points that were “positively Shakespearean, full of sound and fury and yet signifying nothing.”
Another US official also made an indirect answer to Cruz’s questions, causing the senator to address the situation head-on.
Cruz also asked both officials if they received any instructions not to say anything negative about the Polisario Front, with both officials denying receiving such guidance.
“So you just decided to go down that road for the heck of it,” Cruz responded.
A history of Iran-Polisario links
Morocco cut ties with Iran in 2018, emphasizing that it received evidence about the collision.
It accused Tehran of providing Polisario with logistical support.
Iran and Algeria’s regimes denied the collusion, but Moroccan officials emphasized they received indications and satellite proof of training and equipment provision links between Tehran and the separatist group.
The situation prompted concerns in the international community, with officials from across the world urging their countries to designate Polisario as a terrorist group.
In September last year, US Congressman Joe Wilson described the separatist Polisario Front as a “terrorist organization” that destabilizes peace and security worldwide.
“In fact, the Polisario is a terrorist organization, and I have introduced a bill to recognize it as such, because the existence of these terrorist groups contributes to destabilizing the world,” Wilson told reporters Tuesday on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly.
In June, the lawmaker submitted a bipartisan bill in June urging the US to officially classify the Algeria-based and backed group as a foreign terrorist organization.
The bill details the group’s ties with Iran and its proxy Hezbollah, its involvement in violent attacks against Moroccan forces, and its role in destabilizing both the Maghreb and the Sahel.
----------- MOROCCO WORLD NEWS
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