Sahrawi People's Liberation Army
Spanish: Ejército de Liberación Popular Saharaui
Arabic: جيش التحرير الشعبي الصحراوي
Flag of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Founded10 May 1973 (1973-05-10)
(50 years, 7 months ago)
HeadquartersTifariti
Leadership
Commander in chiefPresident Brahim Ghali
Chief of StaffMohamed Wali Akeik
Personnel
Military age18
ConscriptionNo
Active personnel20,000–30,000
Reserve personnel50,000
Industry
Foreign suppliers Algeria
 Libya
Related articles
HistoryList of wars involving the SADR
Western Sahara conflict
RanksMilitary ranks of SADR

The Sahrawi[lower-alpha 1] People's Liberation Army (SPLA; often abbreviated as ELPS or ELP from the Ejército de Liberación Popular Saharaui), is the army of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and previously served as the armed wing of the Polisario Front prior to the foundation of the Republic.[1] Its commander-in-chief was the Secretary General of the Polisario, but the army is now also integrated into the SADR government through the SADR Minister of Defence. The SADR and the Polisario Front have no navy or air force. The SPLA's armed units are considered to have a manpower of possibly 20,000–30,000 active soldiers today, but during the war years its strength appears to have increased to 100,000 men. It has a potential manpower of many times that number, since both male and female refugees in the Tindouf camps undergo military training at age 18. Women formed auxiliary units protecting the camps during war years.

Equipment

A Polisario tank division 2010
Captured Moroccan Eland armoured cars in the Polisario Museum.

When it originally began the Anti-Spanish rebellion, Polisario was forced to capture its weapons individually, and transport them only by foot or camel. But the insurgents multiplied their arsenal and military sophistication after striking an alliance with Algeria in 1975. The modern SPLA is equipped mainly with now outdated Russian-manufactured weaponry, donated by Algeria and in some cases by Libya. But its arsenals display a bewildering variety of material, some of it captured from Mauritanian (Panhard AMLs) or Moroccan forces (Eland Mk7s, Ratel IFVs, AMX-13s, SK-105 Kürassiers) and made in France, the United States, South Africa, Austria, or Britain. The SPLA has several armored units, composed of old tanks (T-55s, T-62s), somewhat more modern armored cars (EE-9 Cascavels, BRDM-2s), infantry fighting vehicles (BMP-1s, BTR-60s), rocket launchers (BM-21s, BM-30s) and halftracks. Surface-to-air missiles (anti-aircraft missiles, as SA-6s, SA-7s, SA-8s and SA-9s) have downed several Moroccan F-5 fighter jets, and helped compensate for the complete Moroccan control of the skies.[2]

One of the most innovative tactics of the SPLA was its early and extensive use of Land Rovers and other re-modeled civilian vehicles, mounting anti-aircraft machine guns (as ZPU-2 or ZU-23) or anti-tank missiles, (as the AT-3 Sagger) and using them in great numbers, to overwhelm unprepared garrisoned outposts in rapid surprise strikes. This may reflect the movement's difficulties in obtaining original military equipment, but nonetheless proved a powerful tactic.[3]

On 3 November 2005, the Polisario Front signed the Geneva Call, committing itself to a total ban on landmines, and later began to destroy its landmine stockpiles under international supervision. Morocco is one of 40 governments that have not signed the 1997 mine ban treaty. Both parties have used mines extensively in the conflict, but some mine-clearing operations have been carried out under MINURSO supervision since the ceasefire agreement.[4][5]

Military equipment of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army
Name Country of origin Quantity Notes
Tanks
T-55A  Soviet Union ~70 (Received from Libya).[6]
T-62 Obr. 1972 ~30
Armoured fighting vehicles
EE-9  Brazil ~19 (Received from Libya in the early 1980s).[6]
BRDM-2  Soviet Union ~12 (Received from Libya).[6]
Infantry fighting vehicles
BMP-1  Soviet Union ~35 (Received from Libya).[6]
Armoured personnel carriers
BTR-60PB  Soviet Union ~25 (Received from Libya).[6]
Towed artillery
122mm D-30  Soviet Union N/A (Received from Libya).[6]
Multiple rocket launchers
107mm Type-63  China N/A (Supplier uncertain; either Algeria or Libya).[6]
122mm 9P132 Grad-P  Soviet Union
122mm BM-21 'Grad' (Received from Libya).[6]
122mm BM-11  North Korea (Received from Libya in the early 1980s), (Not yet seen).[6]
122mm RM-70  Czechoslovakia
Mortars
120mm M-43  Soviet Union N/A (Supplier uncertain; either Algeria or Libya).[6]
160mm M-160
Anti-tank guided missiles
9M14 Malyutka  Soviet Union N/A (Supplier uncertain; either Algeria or Libya), (Not yet seen).[6]
9M111 Fagot (Supplier uncertain; either Algeria or Libya), (Documented by a few sources, not yet seen).[6]
Man-Portable Air Defence Systems
9K32 Strela-2  Soviet Union N/A (Received from Libya in the early 1980s).[6]
(Self-propelled) anti-aircraft guns
14.5mm ZPU-2  Soviet Union N/A (Mounted on Toyota pickup trucks), (Supplier uncertain; either Algeria or Libya).[6]
14.5mm ZPU-4
23mm ZU-23
23mm ZSU-23-4 'Shilka' (Supplier uncertain; either Algeria or Libya).[6]
Surface-to-air missile systems
9K31 Strela-1  Soviet Union ~3 (Received from Libya in the early 1980s).[6]
9K33 Osa ~2
2K12 Kub ~2
Radars
1S91 SURN  Soviet Union N/A (For 2K12 Kub), (Received from Libya in the early 1980s).[6]
P-12 (Received from Libya in the early 1980s) (Not yet seen).[6]
PRV-16

Tactics

The SPLA traditionally employed ghazzi tactics, i.e., motorized surprise raids over great distances, which were inspired by the traditional camel-back war parties of the Sahrawi tribes. However, after the construction of the Moroccan Wall this changed into tactics more resembling conventional warfare, with a focus on artillery, snipers and other long-range attacks. In both phases of the war, SPLA units relied on superior knowledge of the terrain, speed and surprise, and on the ability to retain experienced fighters.

Notes

  1. ↑ also romanized as Saharawi

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Military of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
  1. ↑ "Editor Chris Brazier’s Journey Into Polosario Territory, Including His Trip Through A Cleared Minefield, A Visit To An Underground Hospital, And To A Guerrilla Army Base". New Internationalist.
  2. ↑ "Moroccan Air Force at 50". Air Scene UK.
  3. ↑ Michael Bhatia, "Western Sahara under Polisario Control: Summary Report of Field Mission to the Sahrawi Refugee Camps (near Tindouf, Algeria)". ARSO.org.
  4. ↑ "genevacall.org". Archived from the original on 1 June 2006.
  5. ↑ "genevacall.org". Archived from the original on 4 September 2006.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Oryx. "Desert Storm: Listing The Polisario's Inventory of AFVs". Oryx. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
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