"A terrible revenge is awaiting the families of the Polisario dissidents," the newspaper wrote, noting that several people were arrested among the Sahrawi tribes, homes to the dissidents who managed to loosen the stranglehold of the Polisario and the Algerian security services and hold their protest congress, which was crowned by the "Gjijimat Declaration".

    In mid December, the dissidents met in Gjijimat to voice adherence to Morocco's autonomy proposal to solve the three-decade long conflict over the control of Morocco's Southern Provinces (The Sahara) with the Polisario. They held their congress at the same time as the so-called 12th Congress of Polisario leadership.

    Organizing their meeting under the sign "Autonomy as a Final Solution to Achieve Reconciliation and Dignified Return to the Homeland", the dissidents spoke up for the plan - which Morocco proposes to grant substantial autonomy to the Sahara under its sovereignty - and said this plan ensures "the conditions of honorable return [to Morocco], within the framework of democracy, freedom and respect of human rights."

    The repression campaign targeted families from Oulad Dlim, Oulad Sbaa, Cheikh Maelaïnine, and the Souaed, said the newspaper quoting reliable sources.

    Noting that the charges against the victims raised a lot of questions given their timing, “Aujourd'hui le Maroc” added that the Sahrawi victims were arrested on charges of "smuggling”.

    This campaign, the publication said, has already claimed one life during the mock congress, noting that the death which was falsely attributed to a +stampede+, was rather part of an organized plan to quell the dissent."

    The Sahara dispute erupted in 1976 when the Polisario laid claims to the Sahara that Morocco had retrieved from Spanish rule under the Madrid Accord signed in 1975 with Spain and Mauritania. The Polisario had ever since held thousands of Moroccan-Sahara natives in detention camps located on the Algerian soil.

    Morocco and the Polisario met twice in June and August 2007 in UN-brokered talks, but the Polisario had then clung to its “stubborn” position and “inapplicable” plans which call for holding a referendum on self-determination that had proved to be unworkable.

    In another development, the reformist Polisario Movement, known as Khat Chahid (line of the martyr) made it clear, on Wednesday, that the Polisario separatists' leadership is "illegitimate” and "has no legitimacy to negotiate” with Morocco in the name of the Sahrawis.

    The announcement was made in a press release, which  called to boycott “the corrupt and totalitarian leadership” of the newly elected Polisario leadership following its so-called 12th congress.

    "The Polisario leadership is illegitimate since the 12th congress was neither democratic nor legitimate”, said the press release, stressing that this meeting was “a new play" of the single-party which has allowed this corrupt leadership to remain in power for another four years".

    "The honest leaders and the youth have been excluded from the leadership," the release went on, calling on the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, to consult Khat Achahid as a key contributor (…) to seek a final solution to the Sahara conflict. A final solution that must be sought, according to the reformist movement, within the framework of negotiations and under the aegis of the UN.   

    Stressing that it represents "a large part of the public opinion in the Saharawi refugee camps and abroad," the reformist movement questioned "this law that gives the secretary general the right to govern without any control, including the distribution of management positions".

    Decrying the poor results of the Polisario congress, the line of the martyr stressed that “this corrupt leadership still holds sway, which confirms that Mohamed Abdelaziz [leader of the Polisario] despises our people and ignores all calls for change, justice and democracy within the Polisario," the release concluded.