Anti-Polisario propaganda emanates continuously from Rabat and supporters of Morocco’s occupation. There are plenty of people on the Moroccan side for whom “information management” is a full-time job.

This runs the gamut from laughable through inventive to sometimes offensive, and can be quite sophisticated. Its main axes turn around concrete subjects:

– « Morocco’s initiative to grant substantial autonomy to its southern provinces, the Sahara, mirrors the Kingdom’s resolute willingness to overcome obstacles to a final settlement of the regional dispute »

– « The initiatives launched by HM King Mohammed VI have promoted large-scale development projects in Morocco »,

– « Morocco as a hub of peace and stability in the southern Mediterranean region, Maghreb, and Africa »

– blockade imposed by the polisario on the Saharan population in Tindouf camps »

– « Polisario is a terrorist movement »

Here is an interesting article from afrol News, in which the organisation apologies for publishing a story based on Moroccan propaganda. The original story, about the talks between the Polisario and Morocco in Manhasset, linked the Polisario with terrorism. The subsequent apology states that this error was due to the original piece having been written by “an inexperienced journalist using sources planted by the Moroccan government.” The editor of afrol is clearly rather embarrassed by the incident. He goes on to say that

“Reporting on the Western Sahara conflict is a delicate issue that requires much knowledge of the region and its history and the Moroccan side’s increased spread of false news…“

Hopefully other journalists covering the conflict in Western Sahara will heed these wise words.