Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara Third ... - Scarecrow Press

liv • INTRODUCTION
bringing the country’s economy to its knees in short order by choking
off the iron ore exports upon which it depended. In addition, Polisario’s
fighters inflicted a major embarrassment upon Mokhtar Ould Daddah
when, in June 1976 and again in July 1977, they mounted direct attacks
on Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. Although El-Ouali was killed
in battle after the first of these raids, Ould Daddah’s position had become
so precarious that he felt obliged to call upon direct French military
support, which alienated public opinion in his country still further
but did little to lessen the dangers to his rule.
Beyond the economic damage inflicted on Mauritania, Polisario’s
war had the crucial effect of fueling discontent among the small army
officer corps, who saw the conflict as unwinnable and looked increasingly
for a political solution that Mokhtar Ould Daddah was unwilling
or unable to give them. On July 10, 1978, they peacefully overthrew the
Mauritanian president, instituted what would become a 14-year period
of army governance, and sought, fitfully at first, a way to withdraw
from Western Sahara and make peace with the Polisario Front at the
same time. After the first Mauritanian army leader, Col. Mustapha Ould
Mohammed Salek, proved unequal to the task, his successor, Col. Mohammed
Khouna Ould Heydallah, was finally able, on August 5, 1979,
to sign the so-called Algiers Agreement with the Saharawi nationalists,
bringing to an end Mauritania’s ill-starred involvement in the former
colony. Although Ould Heydallah had to contend with constant complaints
by King Hassan that he inordinately sympathized with Polisario
(he was in fact a member of a Saharawi tribe, the Arosien), and created
a minor sensation when he extended recognition to the SADR on February
27, 1984, Mauritania, from then on, was not a direct participant in
the conflict. Morocco and Polisario from now on would fight their war
alone.
MOROCCO AND POLISARIO:
WAR AND DIPLOMACY, 1979-84
The conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front reached new levels
of intensity in the late 1970s and into the mid-1980s. Possessing
highly motivated troops and relatively modern weaponry given to them
by Algeria (and until 1983 by Libya), the SPLA generally had little trou