The Sahrawi People's Liberation Army (SPLA; ; , ELPS/ELP) is the army of the

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also known as the Sahrawi Republic and Western Sahara, is a partially recognized state in the western Maghreb, which claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, but controls only ...

(SADR) and previously served as the armed wing of the

Polisario Front The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Spanish language, Spanish: ; ), better known by its acronym Polisario Front, is a Sahrawi nationalism, Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to end the occupatio ...

prior to the foundation of the Republic. 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 Defense. 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

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 The modern SPLA is equipped mainly with now outdated Soviet-manufactured weaponry, donated by Algeria and in some cases by Libya.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 AML The Panhard AML (''automitrailleuse légère'', or "light armoured car") is an armoured car with reconnaissance capability. Designed by Panhard on a lightly armoured 4×4 chassis, it weighs an estimated 5.5 tonnes, and is thus suitable for airbo ...

s) or Moroccan forces ( Eland Mk7s, Ratel IFVs,

AMX-13 The AMX-13 is a French light tank produced from 1952 to 1987. It served with the French Army, as the Char 13t-75 Modèle 51, and was exported to more than 26 other nations. Named after its initial weight of 13 tonnes, and featuring a tough and re ...

SK-105 Kürassier The SK-105 ''Kürassier'' is an Austrian light tank armed with a rifled 105 mm gun in an oscillating turret. It is estimated that over 700 have been produced, with initial deliveries in 1971. It shares its CN 105-57 main gun with the French ...

s) 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-62 The T-62 is a Soviet main battle tank that was first introduced in 1961. As a further development of the T-55 series, the T-62 retained many similar design elements of its predecessor including low profile and thick turret armour. In contra ...

s), somewhat more modern armored cars ( EE-9 Cascavels,

BRDM-2 The BRDM-2 (''Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina'', Боевая Разведывательная Дозорная Машина, literally "Combat Reconnaissance/Patrol Vehicle") is an amphibious armoured scout car designed and developed ...

s),

infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

s (

BMP-1 The BMP-1 is a Soviet Union, Soviet Amphibious vehicle, amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle that has been in service from 1966 to the present. BMP stands for ''Boyevaya Mashina Pyekhoty 1'' (), meaning "infantry fighting vehicle, 1st ...

BTR-60 The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet Union, Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs). It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen in public for the first time in 1961. BTR (vehi ...

s),

rocket launchers A rocket launcher is a weapon that launches an rocket (weapon), unguided, rocket-propelled projectile. History The earliest rocket launchers documented in History of China#Ancient China, imperial China consisted of arrows modified by the a ...

( BM-21s, BM-30s) and halftracks.

Surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

s (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. One of the most innovative tactics of the SPLA was its early and extensive use of

Land Rover Land Rover is a brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR builds Land Rovers in Brazil ...

s and other re-modeled civilian vehicles as technicals, improvised fighting vehicles mounting anti-aircraft machine guns (as ZPU-2 or ZU-23) or anti-tank missiles, (as the AT-3 Sagger). The SPLA uses them in great numbers in order 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. On 3 November 2005, the Polisario Front signed the Geneva Call, committing itself to a total ban on

landmines A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, whic ...

, 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.

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 The Moroccan Western Sahara Wall or the Berm, also called the Moroccan sand wall (), is an approximately berm running south to north through Western Sahara and the southwestern portion of Morocco. It separation barrier, separates the Morocca ...

this changed into tactics more resembling conventional warfare, with a focus on

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

sniper A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

s 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.

Gallery

File:Soldats sahraouis du Front du Polisario.jpg, Military parade of the SPLA soldiers in 1980 File:Combattantes sahraouies du Front Polisario.jpg, Female soldiers in 1980 File:Combattants sahraouis du Front Polisario.jpg, Sahrawi fighters, 1980 File:Saharawi soldiers.jpg, Male soldiers in 1985 File:Ejercito 2 RADS.jpg, Army battalion in the '' Liberated Territories'', 2005 File:Musée RASD Polisario.jpg, Army weapons parked at the Museum of the People's Liberation Army

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahrawi Armed Forces Military of Western Sahara 1976 establishments in Western Sahara Military units and formations established in 1976 Sahrawi rebels