We used to live in “Medshar Arbib”, which is a neighborhood that was established in the western side of Smara by the families that had fled to the city from the valleys at the outbreak of the conflict towards the end of 1975.
We used to live in “Medshar Arbib”, which is a neighborhood that was established in the western side of Smara by the families that had fled to the city from the valleys at the outbreak of the conflict towards the end of 1975.
In his youth, my father lived the experience of the Liberation Army, in the 50s of last century. He participated in most of its military battles from the north of the Sahara to northern Mauritania, in which his feet were seriously wounded.
In the summer of 1998, I went on my first trip outside Algeria, to a Spanish city called Villena. It is a quiet and peaceful small town in the Spanish southeast. The majority of its inhabitants know each other. I have Spanish friends there, whom I met from their visits to the camps.
On the morning of December 1, 2010, I was summoned to the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees in Mauritania.
On the evening of November 29, the car carrying me hid between four mountains on the border with Mauritania, other cars were guarding the entrances to the area.
They made up their minds that the deportation decision is final and it must be implemented by any means. I was still cut off from the world. I don't know what happened since I was abducted on the evening of September 21st and they don't want me to know.
I was deep in my obsession when my life flashed in front of me in an instant. How the front that claimed to have liberated me and celebrated my liberation and those with me whom they brought from the city of Smara in 1979.
When you’d arrive at the Sahrawi camps during that period, you’d find yourself in a large prison without walls.. Three large communities isolated from each other. Laayoune camp is 8 kilometers away from the city of Tindouf to the east.
We returned from school to our camp, which we will discover for the first time. We now know that our address is: Laayoune State - Aldawra Department - District 2.
The Unimog truck, which will transport us to our distant school, took us off. My eyes were fixed on my standing mother following us with her tired gaze as she hugged my younger sister and brother as if they were all that was left for her in this universe.
In the morning, the officer took me to a hill near the prison, waiting for the UNHCR office to call from Geneva.
- Hello Mr. Mustafa Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud ???
- Yes.
The Polisario had announced days ago, in a statement received by international news agencies on October 6, that it released me. Since I had no contact with the outside world, I did not know that I had been released.
To verify the falsehood of the Front’s allegations and their injustice to me as expressed by “Muhammad Abdel Aziz” the former Secretary-General of the Polisario who ordered my arrest, may God forgive him, today I publish a letter he addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations “Ban...
As on the first day of my kidnapping, my new guards appeared to be highly disciplined and alertness. The new prison also appears to have been carefully chosen, as "Jhifat Reghioua" is a harsh rocky area and its valley is deep and narrow, dense with trees, surrounded by rocks on both sides.
On the evening of October 13, I was asked to get in a car driven by “Ammar Ould M'hamed” from the tribe of “Ait Lahcen” accompanied by “Al Mahdi Ould Biha” from the tribe of “Oulad Abdelwahid”. I mentioned their tribes because of what will happen later that evening.
The interrogation session ended with the military prosecutor. Immediately after, the investigative judge’s session followed in the next room, where I found former colleague Hammoudi Hajoub waiting for me as he had become the military investigative judge.
We started discussing the charges against me one by one:
1- Desertion to the enemy. We debated the definition of the term desertion.
The next day, I think, the investigators returned with a verbal message from their chief “Muhammad al-Wali Akik”, head of the Front Intelligence at the time, asking me to make the task of his subordinates easier, with a suggestion that we make yesterday's friendly conversation as an...
The military vehicle took us off, escorted by several cars, after they had turned off the lights.. On the road we were exposed to warning fire from other cars. Apparently, an agreement took place between the two groups and we stopped in the middle of a valley.
The tent of my uncle, who was hosting me, was in an isolated corner, so I decided to take my mother to her sisters near "Tamergit" halfway between us and Mehaires, my next destination.
I continued my journey north to the village of “Om Eshgag” west of “Bir Moghrein” on the frontiers line with the Front, no more than 100 km away from Mehaires where my mother lives.