Assahafa.com
The US has officially expressed concerns over reports linking the Polisario Front with Iran amid congressional bills warning Washington about the security risks posed by the separatist group in Africa.
Monica Ager Jacobsen, Senior Bureau Official for the Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT), has publicly conveyed the US administration’s concerns during a hearing about US counterterrorism efforts in Africa on Tuesday.
“We share concerns about the Polisario Front and its impact in the CT space. What I can say with confidence in an open hearing is that the region where the Polisario Front operates sits near trafficking and militant activity in the Sahel and that this creates vulnerabilities that external actors, including Iran, could seek to exploit,” the US official said.
She also reaffirmed the US commitment to monitoring the situation, stating that her country is “vigilant to those threats.”
Jacobsen also announced that she is tracking the allegations regarding Polisario’s collusion with Iranian proxy Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“The State Department and intelligence community are working closely on that,” the US official added, hinting at a future possible classified briefing to speak about the potential concerns.
Her remarks are unprecedented from a US government-affiliated official amid congressional appeals for Washington to take Polisario’s security threats seriously amid an already fragile situation in the Sahel.
Ahead of Jacobsen’s remarks, Senator Ted Cruz cited Iran’s outreach policy in Africa and its collusion with different groups to destabilize the region, including the Polisario Front.
“In the Western Sahara, Iran is actively working to turn the Polisario Front into the Houthis for West Africa. The Polisario Front works with the Iranian terrorist groups. It takes drones from the IRGC. It moves weapons and resources around the region, including to jihadists, and much more,” Cruz maintained.
For the senator, Iran’s main objective is to destabilize the entire region.
“As far too often, they have succeeded,” he said, recalling congressional bills urging Washington to identify the collusion between Tehran and the Polisario Front and to designate the separatist group as a terrorist organization.
Cruz has been among several senators and congressmen and women encouraging the US to investigate the collusion between the Polisario Front and Iran to identify the separatist group’s illicit activities seeking to undermine the region’s security.
The senator has sharply criticized administration officials for repeatedly avoiding direct reference to the Polisario Front despite their documented links to malicious activities.
Algeria’s regime has been hosting, financing, arming, and sheltering the Polisario Front in Tindouf. The separatist group claims independence in Western Sahara.
Several reports have long pointed to the Polisario Front’s involvement in activities like terrorism and drug trafficking.
In 2017, Morocco’s security services identified 100 Polisario members associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
In 2021, French authorities killed Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, the leader of a terror group known as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). He was a former Polisario member.
In March, Cruz introduced a bill calling on the US administration to investigate the Polisario’s collusion with Iran and to designate the separatist group as a terrorist group.
The bill is the second of its kind, as another legislation was also filed by Joe Wilson last year, gathering several co-sponsors’ support for designating the Polisario Front as a terrorist group.
Source: Morocco word news
