El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed (also known as El Uali El-Wali Lualior Lulei (
b. 1948 – June 9, 1976) was a Sahrawi people Nationalism leader,
co-founder and second Secretary-General of the Polisario Front & also
the first President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Youth and background
El-Ouali was born in 1948 in a Sahrawi nomad encampment somewhere on
the hammada desert plains in eastern Western Sahara or northern
Mauritania some sources give his place of birth as Bir Lehlou a
location that is symbolic for Polisario for being the place of the
proclamation of the SADR His parents were poor and his father
handicapped, and with the sum of the severe drought on the Sahara that
years, and the consequences of the Ifni War the family had to abandon
the traditional bedouin lifestyle of the Sahrawis, settling near
Tan-Tan (nowadays southern Morocco at the late 1950s. Some sources
stated that Oualis family was deported among others to Morocco by
Spanish authorities in 1960. He went to primary school in Tan-Tan, and
then to the Islamic Institute in Taroudant with impressive results,
being awarded scholarships to attend university in Rabat. There he
studied Laws & Political sciences and met other young members of the
Sahrawi people diaspora who like him were affected by the radicalism
sweeping Moroccan universities in the early 1970s (heavily influenced
by May 1968 in France . He travelled to Europe for the only time in
his life about this time, visiting Amsterdam in the Netherlands &
Paris in France.
b. 1948 – June 9, 1976) was a Sahrawi people Nationalism leader,
co-founder and second Secretary-General of the Polisario Front & also
the first President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Youth and background
El-Ouali was born in 1948 in a Sahrawi nomad encampment somewhere on
the hammada desert plains in eastern Western Sahara or northern
Mauritania some sources give his place of birth as Bir Lehlou a
location that is symbolic for Polisario for being the place of the
proclamation of the SADR His parents were poor and his father
handicapped, and with the sum of the severe drought on the Sahara that
years, and the consequences of the Ifni War the family had to abandon
the traditional bedouin lifestyle of the Sahrawis, settling near
Tan-Tan (nowadays southern Morocco at the late 1950s. Some sources
stated that Oualis family was deported among others to Morocco by
Spanish authorities in 1960. He went to primary school in Tan-Tan, and
then to the Islamic Institute in Taroudant with impressive results,
being awarded scholarships to attend university in Rabat. There he
studied Laws & Political sciences and met other young members of the
Sahrawi people diaspora who like him were affected by the radicalism
sweeping Moroccan universities in the early 1970s (heavily influenced
by May 1968 in France . He travelled to Europe for the only time in
his life about this time, visiting Amsterdam in the Netherlands &
Paris in France.
Polisario Front
El-Ouali grew increasingly disturbed by the oppressive Spain
colonialism rule over what was then known as Spanish Sahara and
although never involved with the Harakat Tahrir news of the Zemla
Intifada made a deep impression on him. In 1972, he returned to
Tan-Tan (former Spanish Sahara , where he began organizing a group
called the Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamraand
Río de Oro After a Sahrawi demonstration in Tan-Tan in June 1972, a
group of 20 participants including Ouali were detained and tortured by
the Moroccan police, then he met with other groups of Sahrawis from
inside Western Sahara, Algeria & Mauritania, and in 1973 founded with
them the Polisario Front. Days after the Polisarios foundation,
El-Ouali led a group of six poorly armed guerrillas in the May 20,
1973 El-Khanga raid, the first armed action of the Polisario Front
(El-Khanga was a Spanish military post in the desert.). El-Ouali and
one of his fighters were briefly captured, but they managed to escape
prison as the remaining patrol headed by Brahim Gali overran the
ill-prepared Spain troops; The Khanga strike was to be followed by
similar attacks on isolated targets, in which the Polisario gathered
weapons and equipment, until they were finally able to enter into
full-scale guerrilla warfare 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.
El-Ouali grew increasingly disturbed by the oppressive Spain
colonialism rule over what was then known as Spanish Sahara and
although never involved with the Harakat Tahrir news of the Zemla
Intifada made a deep impression on him. In 1972, he returned to
Tan-Tan (former Spanish Sahara , where he began organizing a group
called the Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamraand
Río de Oro After a Sahrawi demonstration in Tan-Tan in June 1972, a
group of 20 participants including Ouali were detained and tortured by
the Moroccan police, then he met with other groups of Sahrawis from
inside Western Sahara, Algeria & Mauritania, and in 1973 founded with
them the Polisario Front. Days after the Polisarios foundation,
El-Ouali led a group of six poorly armed guerrillas in the May 20,
1973 El-Khanga raid, the first armed action of the Polisario Front
(El-Khanga was a Spanish military post in the desert.). El-Ouali and
one of his fighters were briefly captured, but they managed to escape
prison as the remaining patrol headed by Brahim Gali overran the
ill-prepared Spain troops; The Khanga strike was to be followed by
similar attacks on isolated targets, in which the Polisario gathered
weapons and equipment, until they were finally able to enter into
full-scale guerrilla warfare 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.
Exile, presidency and war
After the joint Morocco Mauritania invasion of Western Sahara in late
1975, and the Moroccan air raids on Sahrawi refugees columns in the
desert, El-Ouali escorted them into exile in the refugee camp of
Tindouf Algeria From there, he presided over the establishing of the
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic becoming its first President of
Western Sahara The Sahrawi republic effectively became the government
of some 50,000 – 60,000 people in 1976, housed in the Tindouf refugee
camps. At that point, the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria and Libya
reinforced a guerrilla war against Morocco and Mauritania, who had
substantially larger forces and armament, mostly from French and
Spanish origin. The usual tactic of the Polisario guerrillas consisted
in raids (sometimes of hundreds of km) on military objectives like
Moroccan military posts on Tarfaya Amgala or Guelta Zemmur or economic
objectives, as the Bou Craa phosphate conveyor belt the Zouerat iron
mines and the Mauritania Railway By all accounts, El-Ouali was
intensely charismatic, and often made public speeches in the refugee
camps He frequently met with foreign journalist visiting the camps,
acknowledging the importance of publicizing the Sahrawi struggle. He
was widely respected by his compatriots for his habit of fighting at
the front line with his troops, although this would ultimately prove a
fatal choice.
After the joint Morocco Mauritania invasion of Western Sahara in late
1975, and the Moroccan air raids on Sahrawi refugees columns in the
desert, El-Ouali escorted them into exile in the refugee camp of
Tindouf Algeria From there, he presided over the establishing of the
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic becoming its first President of
Western Sahara The Sahrawi republic effectively became the government
of some 50,000 – 60,000 people in 1976, housed in the Tindouf refugee
camps. At that point, the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria and Libya
reinforced a guerrilla war against Morocco and Mauritania, who had
substantially larger forces and armament, mostly from French and
Spanish origin. The usual tactic of the Polisario guerrillas consisted
in raids (sometimes of hundreds of km) on military objectives like
Moroccan military posts on Tarfaya Amgala or Guelta Zemmur or economic
objectives, as the Bou Craa phosphate conveyor belt the Zouerat iron
mines and the Mauritania Railway By all accounts, El-Ouali was
intensely charismatic, and often made public speeches in the refugee
camps He frequently met with foreign journalist visiting the camps,
acknowledging the importance of publicizing the Sahrawi struggle. He
was widely respected by his compatriots for his habit of fighting at
the front line with his troops, although this would ultimately prove a
fatal choice.
Death in combat
On June 9, 1976 El-Ouali was killed by a shrapnel piece through the
head returning from a major Polisario raid on the Mauritanian capital,
Nouakchott in which they bombarded the Presidential palace. In the
retreat, pursued by Mauritanian troops, armored vehicles & aviation a
group with Ouali separated from the principal column, going to
Benichab (about 100 km. north of Nouakchott) with the intention of
exploding the water pipeline that supplied the capital. Other sources
claim that the subsequent combat take place 60 km. north of Akjoujt.
They were surrounded & cornered by Mauritanian troops with Panhard AML
s & then annihilated. Oualis body was sent to Nouackchott & buried
secretly in a military terrain (in 1996, 20 years after his death, the
exact place of his rests was revealed)Alejandro García, Historias del
Sáhara – El mejor y el peor de los mundos Catarata, 2001, Pages
178-179, where still lays. His position as Secretary-General was
briefly assumed in an interim capacity by Mahfoud Ali Beiba who was
then replaced by Mohammed Abdelaziz at the Polisarios III General
Popular Congress in August 1976.
Legacy and depictions in popular culture National holidays
El-Ouali is revered as a Father of the Nation by the Sahrawi refugee
population, and there is a simple stone monument 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. In Mauritania, the June 9 was declared by
Mokhtar Ould Daddah the day of the Mauritanian armed forcesl.
On June 9, 1976 El-Ouali was killed by a shrapnel piece through the
head returning from a major Polisario raid on the Mauritanian capital,
Nouakchott in which they bombarded the Presidential palace. In the
retreat, pursued by Mauritanian troops, armored vehicles & aviation a
group with Ouali separated from the principal column, going to
Benichab (about 100 km. north of Nouakchott) with the intention of
exploding the water pipeline that supplied the capital. Other sources
claim that the subsequent combat take place 60 km. north of Akjoujt.
They were surrounded & cornered by Mauritanian troops with Panhard AML
s & then annihilated. Oualis body was sent to Nouackchott & buried
secretly in a military terrain (in 1996, 20 years after his death, the
exact place of his rests was revealed)Alejandro García, Historias del
Sáhara – El mejor y el peor de los mundos Catarata, 2001, Pages
178-179, where still lays. His position as Secretary-General was
briefly assumed in an interim capacity by Mahfoud Ali Beiba who was
then replaced by Mohammed Abdelaziz at the Polisarios III General
Popular Congress in August 1976.
Legacy and depictions in popular culture National holidays
El-Ouali is revered as a Father of the Nation by the Sahrawi refugee
population, and there is a simple stone monument 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. In Mauritania, the June 9 was declared by
Mokhtar Ould Daddah the day of the Mauritanian armed forcesl.
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