Polisario, Biggest Loser of Algerian Petro-Dinars Drained by Coronavirus

The leaders of the Polisario Front should tighten up their belts and no longer rely on their main fund-provider, Algeria, whose petrodollar reserves are being whittled away by the coronavirus pandemic, while its revenues from hydrocarbons sale continue to dip with the sharp fall of oil prices in the international market.

The Algerian regime’s coffers will soon be dried up with the continued drop in the price of the Saharan Blend which was trading Tuesday at less than $20 a barrel.

The Algerian regime, which is controlled by old army generals, will no longer be able to use the oil-money to buy social peace in the country. The same thing goes for the slush funds that were also used by the Algerian civilian and military leaders to finance their dirty war against their Moroccan neighbor which they have always deemed as their number one enemy in the Maghreb region.

These slush funds have been used for more than 40 years to finance the Polisario’s hostile activities against Morocco in a bid to achieve their illusive dream dating back to the Cold War era, to impose their leadership over North Africa.

Now that Algeria is facing an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, the Polisario risks crumbling down and disappearing at any moment. All it takes is a simple decision by Algerian leaders to shut down funding of the separatist group’s operations.

Henceforth, the Polisario leaders have no other choice but to accept the large autonomy plan offered to them by Morocco to put an end to the humiliating and endless ordeal suffered by thousands of Sahrawis held against their will in open-air detention centers set up in the desert of Algeria.

Otherwise, they risk to be overpowered by a burst of uprising of frustrated populations of the Tindouf camps, whose worsening living conditions will inevitably lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.