El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed

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El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed : biography

1948 – 9 June 1976

Polisario Front

Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro Historias del Sáhara – El mejor y el peor de los mundos

In April 1974, El-Uali headed the POLISARIO delegation that took part in the Pan-African Youth Movement meeting in Benghazi, Libya. Bippi.org

In 1974-75 the Polisario Front slowly seized control over the desert countryside, and quickly became the most important nationalist organization in the country. By 1975 Spain had been forced to retreat into the major coastal cities, and reluctantly accepted negotiations on the surrender of power. At this point, the Polisario remained a relatively small organization of perhaps 800 fighters and activists, although supported by a vastly larger network of sympathizers.

According to claims by Mehdi Bennouna in his book Heroes Sans Gloire, El-Ouali was the son of a member of the Moroccan Army of Liberation. Allegedly, he was member of Union National des Étudiants Marocains (UNEM), the students union in Morocco and was recruited by Mohamed Bennouna to join the "Tanzim" (The Organisation or the Structure), an Arabic nationalist and socialist organization which was created overthrow the monarchy under Hassan II and obtained support from Syria, Libya, and Algeria. El-Ouali was supposedly trained in Libya and his mentor was a man named "Nemri". Bennouna claims the death of Mahmoud and Nemri, as well as the fluctuating relationship between Tanzim and Algeria led the creation of the Polisario Front. Bennouna personally views this as part of the armed revolution in Morocco and of the political dissidence against the Moroccan regime.

Legacy and depictions in popular culture

Books

A book containing two letters and a speech of El Uali was published in 1978 entitled "Three texts: Two letters and a speech", being reedited in 2010. Abebooks.com Google Books In 1997, the University of Alicante published the book "Luali: Now or never, the liberty", a joint effort by Spanish writer and prosecutor Felipe Briones and Sahrawi writers Mohamed Limam Mohamed Ali and Mahayub Salek, being the first published biography about El Ouali’s life and legacy. Google Books

Eponyms

  • El Uali Mustapha Sayed Special School, Cuban public educational institution, located in Marianao, Havana.
  • Martyr El Wali Mostapha Military School, Sahrawi military institution, located in the Sahrawi refugee camps, Tindouf province, Algeria.

Quotes

Some selected quotes:

  • "Anything usurped by force can only be recovered by force"
  • "If you want your right is needed to sacrifice your blood"
  • "Morocco and Mauritania were tiny enemies in comparison to illiteracy"
  • "Stand together until the regaining of our land"
  • "Moroccan revolutionary organizations have themselves at the service of the system, revolutionary leaders take the suitcases of the King, support the regime in its invasion and occupation of Western Sahara, support the occupation of our country and the expulsion of our people out of their homeland into exile"

Music

The Sahrawi traditional music group "Shahid El Hafed Buyema" changed their name to "Shahid El Uali" shortly afterwards his death in combat.

National holidays

El-Ouali is revered as a Father of the Nation by the Sahrawi refugee population, and there is a simple stone memorial built to his honour in the desert. The day of his death, June 9, has been declared The Day of the Martyrs, a holiday of the republic that honors all Sahrawi victims in the war for independence.

In Mauritania, the June 9 was declared by Mokhtar Ould Daddah the day of the Mauritanian armed forces.