Algerian Party Calls for Sahara Referendum, Boosting Maghreb Unity

The word Polisario is seen on the ground in Tifariti, Western Sahara. (Reuters)
The word Polisario is seen on the ground in Tifariti, Western Sahara. (Reuters)
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Algerian Party Calls for Sahara Referendum, Boosting Maghreb Unity

The word Polisario is seen on the ground in Tifariti, Western Sahara. (Reuters)
The word Polisario is seen on the ground in Tifariti, Western Sahara. (Reuters)

Algeria's Movement of Society for Peace opposition party said a self-determination referendum is the only way to resolve the crisis in the Sahara region, calling for boosting Maghreb unity.

The party held a meeting to discuss the situation in Guerguerat, the buffer zone in the Western Sahara.

The free choice of the Sahrawi people ensures the permanent stability of the entire region, it added, warning that imposing a fait accompli always leads to conflict.

It called for cooperation between all parties in line with international law, to calm the situation in Guerguerat and protect civilians. The region must be safeguarded from security threats that “only serve the colonial powers.”

The Arab Maghreb Union project is the framework that brings together the interests of the Maghreb countries and their peoples at various economic, social, cultural and political levels, said the party, adding. The Union can help resolve the Sahara crisis.

The party also called for the opening of borders and allowing the free movement of goods and people, stressing that citizens of the Maghreb countries are united as “one people” and no issue can undermine the ties between them.

On Friday, the Algerian foreign ministry called for the “immediate cessation” of military operations, deeply deploring the serious violations of the ceasefire in Guerguerat the repercussions of which "would affect the stability of the entire region”

Algeria said it expects the UN Secretary-General and the United Nations mission for the referendum in Western Sahara to carry out their tasks without restrictions or obstacles, and show the impartiality required by the current developments.

Meanwhile, Ambassador of the Polisario Front in Algeria, Abdelkader Taleb Omar, announced that the group “has waited long enough and it now realizes that armed action alone is needed to move the standing waters and rectify the course.”

He said that military action in Guerguerat will introduce a “new dynamic” for the Sahrawi people.



US Aircraft Carrier in the Middle East is Heading Home

File photo of the US aircraft carrier "Eisenhower" in the Red Sea (AFP)
File photo of the US aircraft carrier "Eisenhower" in the Red Sea (AFP)
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US Aircraft Carrier in the Middle East is Heading Home

File photo of the US aircraft carrier "Eisenhower" in the Red Sea (AFP)
File photo of the US aircraft carrier "Eisenhower" in the Red Sea (AFP)

The Pentagon's rare move to keep two Navy aircraft carriers in the Middle East over the past several weeks has now finished, as the USS Theodore Roosevelt is heading home, according to US officials.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered the Roosevelt to extend its deployment for a short time and remain in the region as the USS Abraham Lincoln was pushed to get to the area more quickly. The Biden administration beefed up the US military presence there to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and to safeguard US troops, according to The AP.

US commanders in the Middle East have long argued that the presence of a US aircraft carrier and the warships accompanying it has been an effective deterrent in the region, particularly for Iran. Since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip began last fall, there has been a persistent carrier presence in and around the region — and for short periods they have overlapped to have two of the carriers there at the same time.

Prior to last fall, however, it had been years since the US had committed that much warship power to the region.

The decision to bring the Roosevelt home comes as the war in Gaza has dragged on for 11 months, with tens of thousands of people dead, and international efforts to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group have repeatedly stalled as they accuse each other of making additional and unacceptable demands.

For a number of months earlier this year the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower remained in the Red Sea, able both to respond to help Israel and to defend commercial and military ships from attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen. The carrier, based in Norfolk, Virginia, returned home after an over eight-month deployment in combat that the Navy said was the most intense since World War II.

US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements, said the San Diego-based Roosevelt and the USS Daniel Inouye, a destroyer, are expected to be in the Indo-Pacific Command's region on Thursday. The other destroyer in the strike group, the USS Russell, had already left the Middle East and has been operating in the South China Sea.

The Lincoln, which is now in the Gulf of Oman with several other warships, arrived in the Middle East about three weeks ago, allowing it to overlap with the Roosevelt until now.

There also are a number of US ships in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and two destroyers and the guided missile submarine USS Georgia are in the Red Sea.