Dakhla (refugee camps), July 10, 2016 (SPS) -The new Secretary General of Polisario Front and elected President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) Brahim Ghali was sworn in Saturday in Dakhla (Saharawi refugee camps), following the Polisario Extraordinary Congress.
Brahim Ghali was elected by the overwhelming majority of participants in the Extraordinary Congress, as Secretary General of the Polisario Front and President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, replacing Mohamed Abdelaziz, who died last May 31st due to illness, according to the Constitution.
The Article 51 of the Sahrawi Constitution stipulates that "the Polisario Front General Secretary assumes the Presidency of the Republic.”
Brahim Ghali collected 1,766 votes out of 1,895 cast in the election, said the Electoral Commission after the counting and announcement of final results.
Activist in the movement against the Spanish colonization, Brahim Ghali is a founding member of the Polisario Front which he was the first general secretary in 1973.
He was the leader of the first military operation against the Spanish colonial rule, behind the outbreak of the armed struggle on 20 May 1973.
Later in 1975, he was member of the delegation in charge of negotiations with Spain for Western Sahara people self-determination.
He also participated in the exchange of Sahrawi prisoners in Spanish jails, before being appointed as defense minister in SADR first government (from March 1976 until 1989).
Ghali assumed several positions at the Polisario Front from 1976 to 2015.
From 1993 to 1998, he also served as Minister of Defence.
He was also a member of the Sahrawi delegation responsible for negotiations with Morocco before being appointed Minister of Occupied Territories from 1998 to 1999, and Polisario Front representative in Spain from 1999 to 2008 and SADR ambassador to Algiers in 2008.
Brahim Ghali is the third Secretary-General of the Polisario Front after El-Ouali Mustapha and late Mohamed Abdelaziz. (SPS)
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