Squabbling in the Sahara

Press, 3 May 1977, Page 16

Squabbling in the Sahara

From the “Economist,” London

Mauritania is having second thoughts about its part in the simmering war for the Western Sahara. Its army responds to attacks from the Polisario guerrillas who are challenging Mauritania’s share-out with Morocco of the former Spanish territory. But the army cannot, or will not, go on the offensive. Most of its soldiers are black and from

the south of the country; for them it is Moorish war and no concern of theirs. For the Moorish officer corps it is a war against their brothers, sometimes literally. So neither officers nor their men are anxious to fight. Since last December, Polisario forces have attacked seven Mauritanian towns. They claim to have taken at least 200 prisoners

and to have caused hundreds of casualties. The vital rail link between the iron ore mines at Zouerate was broken three times last year when Polisario men ripped up lengths of track. On February 20 this year, guerrillas crippled three engines. Since Mauritania gets some 80 per cent of its foreign exchange from iron ore, the Government has had to start stock-piling: nearly six months’ supply is currently stored at the port of Nouadhibou, twice as much as last December. But the railway remains vulnerable.

The reluctant army has been quadrupled in size — from 3000 to 12,500 men — since the war began more than a year ago. Its mobility has also been increased with the acquisition of some 30 French armoured cars and 100 Landrovers from Britain, many of which will be armed with 120 mm recoilless guns. But the army wants more, afid is looking, for air transport too. Lockheed, Douglas and Hawker Siddeley have all sent selling missions in recent months. Mauritania has had one diplomatic success recently — with the government of Mali, which has been irritated by reports that Polisario has been using northern Mali as a route into Mauritania and even as a recuriting ground. A series of visits, culminating in a trip by Mauritania’s President Mr Ould Daddah to Bamako, the capita! of Mali, in early February, has led to the despatch of Malian troops to the north to try to stop infiltration and recruitment. But it has not

brought Mali into the war on Mauritania’s side.

The war has pushed Mauritania’s budget up 23 per cent this year, with more than half the increase going to the army. Many development projects have had to be postponed or cancelled. This drain on resources has helped to turn the war into a domestic political issue. Mauritanians are also beginning to doubt the official reports on the war in their rigidly censored press. Polisario’s broadcasts over Radio Algiers have a wide audience inside Mauritania. The presence of Moroccan troops in several northern Mauritanian towns (Dakhla, Bir Moghreim and Ain ben Tili) is another problem. The pro-Moroccan lobby, led by the powerful “minister of interal sovereignty,” Mr Mohammed Ahmed Saleh, is strong. But many Mauritanians have not forgotten that Morocco once laid claim to Mauritania itself as well as to the largest chunk of the Western Sahara. Long-standing hostilities between Mauritania's north and south have been intensified by the war, and by serious food shortages in southern areas this year. The Government has asked for 150,000 tonnes of food although international agencies estimate that 40.000 tonnes would be sufficient. All these issues were expected to surface at the meeting late in April of the ruling Mauritanian People’s Party. President Ould Daddah, Head of State since independence in 1960, is a wily politician. But can he fight a war on two fronts?