The crisis at Guerguerat and the escalation of the Western Sahara Conflict

Abstract

This paper analyses two crises which occurred in the town of Guerguerat, and their effect on the development of the conflict in Western Sahara. Guerguerat is situated in the south-west of Western Sahara, beyond the territory occupied by Morocco, in what Saharawi nationalism considers as "Liberated Territories". It is thus understood that, in the summer of 2016, the Polisario Front considered as a provocation the deployment of some troops of the Moroccan Gendarmerie, together with workers who were going to asphalt the stretch of track which runs between Guerterat and Mauritania. The second crisis, in 2017, was motivated by the announcement of the passage of a rally through Western Sahara. This work analyses the most relevant facts of both crises, the determining factors in the short, medium and long term, the reactions of the United Nations and other relevant actors, as well as the possible future scenarios that were opened due to the crisis.