Qatar announced its support for Morocco's move to reopen the Guerguerat border crossing with Mauritania, while Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani said that this military move came after the exhaustion of all peaceful options with the Polisario Front.

The Moroccan Prime Minister said that the reopening of the Guerguerat crossing took place after Morocco had exhausted all peaceful options to persuade what he described as the Polisario militia to withdraw from the region.

He added, in a special statement to Al-Jazeera, that Morocco had ordered its forces to intervene to establish a sandy barrier to protect the area from future penetrations, given the strategic importance of this line.

Othmani said that "this line is strategic and very important to the movement of civilians and the commercial movement," considering that the Polisario's closure of the crossing "is a flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement that was sponsored by the United Nations," stressing that "the Moroccan people, with all their political and civil powers, are mobilizing this issue for defense." On the sovereignty, rights and borders of Morocco. "

Qatari support

In the context, the State of Qatar expressed its "deep concern over the obstruction of civil and commercial movement" at the Guerguerat crossing. It also expressed its support for the step taken by Morocco to "move to put an end to the blockage caused by the obstruction of movement at the crossing."

In a statement issued Friday, Qatar commended the efforts of the United Nations Secretary-General to reach a political solution to the decades-old conflict.

Qatar renewed its "firm position on resolving disputes through dialogue, diplomacy and peaceful means," and stressed the need to respect the sovereignty of states, and called for utmost restraint.

Pictures previously circulated by social media leaders showed the Polisario arresting Moroccan trucks in Karakrat (Al-Jazeera)

Non-offensive operation

The Moroccan armed forces said in a statement Friday morning that after what it described as armed militias of the "Polisario" front blocking the link between Morocco and Mauritania, "last night (Thursday night) a non-offensive operation was to put a security belt to secure the flow of goods and people through the region. Guerrilla.

She added that there is no intention to use weapons in the operation except in case of self-defense.

In a statement, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that in light of what it called the dangerous and unacceptable provocations of the Polisario in the region, Morocco decided to act in full respect for the authorities vested in it.

She indicated that the Polisario had infiltrated the region since late last month, obstructing the movement and work of the military observers of the UN mission (MINURSO).

Sources in the Polisario Front leadership said that the Front's forces responded to what they called Morocco's breach of the cease-fire, targeting areas behind the separation wall.

Algerian condemnation

For its part, Algeria expressed its condemnation of what it described as "serious violations of the ceasefire," which it said occurred on Friday morning in the Guerguerat region.

In a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, Algeria called for the immediate cessation of military operations, and said that their repercussions would affect the stability of the entire region.

Algeria called on both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front to show responsibility and restraint, and fully respect the number one military agreement signed between them and the United Nations.

In turn, France called for "doing everything possible to avoid escalation."

The French Foreign Ministry told the French press that "France today calls for doing everything possible to avoid escalation and return to a political solution as soon as possible."

The conflict in Western Sahara is one of the oldest conflicts in Africa, as Morocco regained the Sahara from Spanish colonialism in 1975, and the Polisario Front was established a year later and took up arms, demanding the secession of the region rich in fish wealth and phosphates, and it is believed that it has oil deposits.

All peace efforts led by the United Nations failed, but they succeeded in enforcing a ceasefire in 1991.

Morocco proposes autonomy for the territory under Moroccan sovereignty, but the Polisario Front - an abbreviated name for "the Popular Front for the Liberation of Sakia El Hamra and the Valley of Gold" - and Algeria are calling for complete secession from Morocco.