US Urged to Label Polisario Front as Terrorist Group
The U.S. should designate the Polisario Front as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) for its destabilizing activities in North Africa, according to a new Hudson Institute report.
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The April 18 report accused the Algeria-based paramilitary group of violating a 1991 ceasefire in the Western Sahara, siphoning off humanitarian aid, collaborating with FTOs like Hezbollah and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, receiving drones from Iran and smuggling arms to jihadist insurgencies that threaten U.S. forces across the Sahel.
The Polisario Front also "enables hostile actors like Iran, Russia and China to expand their influence in the Sahel, a region critical to U.S. military and economic interests," the report says. An FTO designation "would freeze Polisario assets. This would help dismantle the group’s smuggling and arms networks, sever its ties to Iran, Russia and China, and deter other proxy threats from attacking U.S. forces or allies."
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said April 11 that he plans to introduce legislation to designate the Polisario Front as an FTO.