Mohamed Abdelaziz

Mohamed Abdelaziz ( Arabic محمد عبد العزيز, DMG Muḥammad ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ; * - according to Moroccan information - August 17, 1947 in Marrakech , Morocco or - according to own information - 1948 in Smara , Spanish Sahara ; † May 31, 2016 ) was a politician of the Frente Polisario in Western Sahara and the first president of the unrecognized Democratic Arab Republic of the Sahara .

Life

Abdelaziz came from a Saharawi Bedouin family , whose members belong to an eastern sub-tribe of the Reguibat . These roamed the Sahara between Spanish Sahara , Mauritania , Algeria and southern Morocco. His father, Khelili Mohamed Salem Rguibi, was a Moroccan officer who advocated that Western Sahara should remain in Morocco. He was a member of the Royal Advisory Council on Saharan Affairs and was thereby a political opponent of his son.

As a young student at Moroccan universities in the early 1970s, he tended towards Saharan nationalism and became one of the founding members of the Frente Polisario , the independence movement in Western Sahara , which in 1973 took up an armed struggle against Spanish colonialism .

One year after completing his studies in Rabat in 1975, Abdelaziz became General Secretary of the Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro on August 30, 1976 (German for "Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and the Oro River"). He replaced Mahfoud Ali Beiba , who temporarily held the post after El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed was killed in combat in Mauritania.

Since October 1982 he was also President of the Sahara Democratic Arab Republic .

Abdelaziz lived in exile in a refugee camp in the Tindouf province in southwest Algeria .

According to former members of the Polisario, Abdelaziz was "chosen" by Algeria to be at the head of the organization, although he did not belong to the narrow circle of the leadership.

Political profile

Abdelaziz 2006 in a white traditional Derra'a

Abdelaziz was seen as a secular nationalist . He recently steered the Polisario and Western Sahara from military to political struggle. He supported the United Nations Baker Plan in 2003 . Under his leadership, the Polisario turned away from its earlier orientation towards Arab socialism in favor of a classification in liberal- democratic ranks. This is expressed through a commitment to a multi-party system and the market economy . Abdelaziz sought support from the United States and the European Union , but with little success. In March 2016, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited refugee camps set up by the Polisario Front and met with Abdelaziz.

Within the organization, Abdelaziz was criticized for preventing reforms in the movement and sticking to a diplomatic course instead of resuming the armed struggle. This is favored by some in the movement because few concessions were achieved in the negotiations through Morocco. The best-known opposition group within the Polisario Front is the Chat al-Shahid , which aims to restore the legacy of Abdelaziz's predecessor El Ouali.

Abdelaziz condemned terrorism and insisted that guerrilla warfare should not be directed against civilians and their property. After the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington , Madrid and London , he sent condolences to the governments concerned. He did this after the al-Qaida attacks on May 16, 2003 in Casablanca .

Individual evidence

↑ Stephen O. Hughes: Morocco Under King Hassan . Ithaca Press, Reading 2001, ISBN 0-86372-285-7 , p. 247.
↑ ^a ^b ^c David Signer : Death of a President without a State. Abdelaziz was the figurehead of the embattled Western Sahara and the Frente Polisario. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. June 2, 2016, p. 5.
^ Morto il segretario generale del Fronte Polisario Mohamed Abdelaziz
↑ ^a ^b p Zunes, J. Mundy: Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Solution astray. Syracuse University Press 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
↑ Abd al-Aziz Muhammad. In: Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong, Henry Louis Gates (Eds.): Dictionary of African Biography. Volume 6, Oxford University Press, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
↑ The Polisario Front - Credibles Negotiation Partner or After-Effect of the Coldwar and Obstacle to a Political Solution in Western Sahara? ESISC
↑ Stephen King: The Emergence and Politics of Polisario Front. In: Anouar Boukhars, Jacques Roussellier (Eds.): Perspectives on Western Sahara. Myths, Nationalisms, and Geopolitics . Rowman & Littlefield, Plymouth 2013, ISBN 978-1-4422-2685-2 , p. 80.

personal data
SURNAME	Abdelaziz, Mohamed
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Sahrawi politician
DATE OF BIRTH	17th August 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH	Marrakech , Morocco
DATE OF DEATH	May 31, 2016

[marrakesh-1] Stephen O. Hughes: Morocco Under King Hassan . Ithaca Press, Reading 2001, ISBN 0-86372-285-7 , p. 247.

[David_Signer-2] David Signer : Death of a President without a State. Abdelaziz was the figurehead of the embattled Western Sahara and the Frente Polisario. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. June 2, 2016, p. 5.

[3] Morto il segretario generale del Fronte Polisario Mohamed Abdelaziz

[Zunes_2010-4] Zunes, J. Mundy: Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Solution astray. Syracuse University Press 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2016.

[AfrBio-5] Abd al-Aziz Muhammad. In: Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong, Henry Louis Gates (Eds.): Dictionary of African Biography. Volume 6, Oxford University Press, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2016.

[6] The Polisario Front - Credibles Negotiation Partner or After-Effect of the Coldwar and Obstacle to a Political Solution in Western Sahara? ESISC

[7] Stephen King: The Emergence and Politics of Polisario Front. In: Anouar Boukhars, Jacques Roussellier (Eds.): Perspectives on Western Sahara. Myths, Nationalisms, and Geopolitics . Rowman & Littlefield, Plymouth 2013, ISBN 978-1-4422-2685-2 , p. 80.