Is the «Sahrawi Initiative for Change» created by the Polisario leadership ?

One month after it was launched, the «Sahrawi Initiative for Change» (SIC) is suspected to be close to the Polisario leadership. Although the founders of the SIC have openly denounced corruption and maladministration in the camps, they are surprisingly free to act inside and outside Tindouf. Other initiatives were not lucky enough to do the same thing.

Since it was created, the SIC has benefited from extensive media coverage. All the channels in the Polisario Front announced the launch of this initiative, except for the «official news agency» of the separatist movement, Sahara Press Service, which chose to ignore the news.

Members close to the Front’s leadership

In addition to this excessive media coverage, the SIC coordinator, Haj Ahmed, was allowed to visit Spain last week. Officially, his presence allowed him to explain the «objectives» of the Initiative to left-wing parties in the European country.

Thus, Haj Ahmed met with José Luis Abalos, secretary general of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and an important member of the organization. He then met with a delegation from Podemos, a left-wing political party in Spain. During this meeting, he pleaded for the release of the Gdim Izik detainees and insisted on the «legitimacy» of the Polisario claims. This is to say that the leader of the SIC has almost been on a diplomatic mission that served the agenda of the Front, rather than promoting his own ideas.

Moreover, the SIC was among the few opposition voices that did not criticize the often called «victory» at the summit of the African Union-European Union in Abidjan that the Polisario leadership promoted. A situation that endorses the doubts surrounding the initiative meant to be a whistleblower of injustices in the camps.

The «initiative» is carried by men who held important positions in the past in the Polisario leadership. Its coordinator, Haj Ahmed is the brother of Boukhari Ahmed, the representative of the Front to the United Nations and considered very close to the Algerian secret services. On the other hand, Ouled Sellam is the cousin of M'Hamed Khadad, member of the Polisario national secretariat and coordinator of the MINURSO.