Shaheed El Hafed, 9 June 2026 (SPS) - This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Luali Mustafa Sayed, founder of the POLISARIO Front, a historical symbol of the modern Sahrawi revolution and a key figure in the founding of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. He was martyred on June 9, 1976, at the height of his career. Fifty years have passed, but the cause he championed remains alive, and the people whose political consciousness he awakened continue their victorious struggle and their emancipatory quest for liberation.
On this fiftieth anniversary, we present the translation into English of an analytical article originally published in Spanish by Felipe Briones, Prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Spain, and Mohamed Limam Mohamed Ali Sidi Bachir, Ambassador of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic to Kenya; the same authors who, in 1997, gifted us with the biography of Luali, entitled "Luali: Now or Never Freedom." In their article, both authors revisit the thinking of the martyr Luali in light of our current situation: his philosophy of organisation, his approach to armed struggle, and his vision for building alliances—three lessons that remain relevant today. Remembering Luali Mustafa Sayed, Basiri, Mohamed Abdelaziz, and all our righteous martyrs is not only a duty of loyalty but also an invitation to reflection and contemplation. These figures bequeathed to us not statues to venerate but experiences and thoughts from which to learn and ideas to debate and renew. A liberation project that does not draw upon the legacy of its martyrs, nor develop it, will not advance; it will instead become a kind of extinct memory.
LUALI, 50 YEARS LATER
Luali is considered the figure who sparked the contemporary Sahrawi revolution and created its national entity, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. He died 50 years ago, on June 9, 1976.
By Felipe Briones Vives* & M. Limam Mohamed Ali*
Thirty years ago, we wrote his biography. In the prologue provided by Ahmed Baba Miske, a writer, journalist, poet, and researcher of Mauritanian origin but with a strong pro-Sahrawi vocation, he evoked our comrade thus:
‘LUALI was a blessing, a grace directed by its Creator to this people at a unique moment in its existence.
His untimely demise could only be a source of sorrow, felt as an immense misfortune, an irreparable loss. LUALI had a task to fulfill: to awaken his people, to restore their hope, to reunite them, and to channel the process destined to lead them toward a new stage in their history. Paradoxically, his own death was to play an eminently positive, extraordinary role in this process. Instead of the discouragement, demoralisation, and destabilisation that might have been expected, the pain and anger generated, on the contrary, a unanimous will to continue his work, to follow his example, and to be worthy of his sacrifice. As he himself had wished in life, every Sahrawi wanted to be, from that moment on, a UALI. Hence, a kind of astonishingly invigorating emulation, an explosive dynamic whose results were to be spectacular. Behind LUALI—but always with him because he was more than ever the guide, the inspirer, the symbol, the example—the Sahrawi fighters, the activists, men and women, and the diplomats—were going to achieve, in their respective spheres, unparalleled feats with the means at their disposal.’
LUALI consecrated the best of his efforts and his life to three areas:
- The internal organisational experience as "the basis of national action." He analysed the Sahrawi reality with an approach that allowed him to directly engage with the citizens and break down into socio-political concepts and ideas everything that affected their lives as individuals or as a people. This fundamental knowledge made it possible to evaluate the basis of the action from several angles: the numerical quantity, the level of technical and organisational development, the quality of the culture and the peculiarities of society, and the importance of each of these elements in relation to its potential for future evolution. And all of this must be considered in light of the Sahrawi people's refugee status. Therefore, part of the analysis must be dedicated to understanding the enemy's internal situation: its manpower, economic structure, contradictions, the nature of its problems, political regime, regional ambitions, and internal and external ties and alliances. In this way, its vulnerabilities can be discovered, and sufficient damage inflicted, defeating it and forcing it to acknowledge what it has denied until now. Logically, the necessary instrument requires the existence of an organised, cohesive, capable, and respected people in their homeland.
The path to these objectives lies in self-construction in all spheres: human, material, organisational, and intellectual. Inexorably, it requires the support of a popular and democratic regime that truly emanates from the grassroots and popular will.
If these people exist only as a united bloc, but with a high degree of knowledge and determination, they can confront any situation that stands in their way. They are called to revolutionary action, even though they do not possess all the necessary conditions. Only the unleashing of perseverance in action will necessarily lead them to obtain those conditions. Revolutionary action, as its name indicates, is action, not reaction. It is about initiative, not waiting. By its very revolutionary nature, it means starting without having all the necessary resources, since these do not always arrive as frequently as desired. One always begins from a position of imbalance with respect to the enemy's forces and resources.
The scale of the acquisitions and the strength of their cohesion to achieve them against a numerically and materially superior enemy demand of this people, in addition to their unity and cohesion, extraordinary specificity, not only to counterbalance this enemy but, above all, to achieve victory. This specificity is the strength of the organisation that can ensure that degree of determination. Constant contact with the grassroots, to explain and discuss ideas with them, is one of the conditions that LUALI demanded of its vanguard cadres because the capabilities of these cadres largely determine the conditions for action and final victory.
- The second area is military action, an instrument of national action. Luali insisted that the reality into which the Sahrawi people were thrust was unjust and humiliating, and that it must be rejected through the most forceful means: combat. He persevered in the necessity of embracing the concept of supreme sacrifice, since the usurpation of a right such as freedom may require accepting that sacrifice if it is to be recovered. Combat action must be an organised national action, free from all improvisation and spontaneity, which can only be achieved with the creation of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Aware of the priority and the sensitivity of this aspect, he insisted, from the beginning, on being in the front lines, on the most dangerous fronts. As fate would have it, Luali was at the forefront of the Polisario Front's first military action, in which he was taken prisoner. He also led its final operation, in which he fell in combat, thus writing, until his last breath, a page of singular selflessness and boundless dedication to the national cause.
- The third area is diplomacy and the forging of alliances to strengthen national rights. From his student days, Luali sincerely believed that the Sahrawi people's aspirations for freedom would be supported by progressive organisations in Morocco and Mauritania, because all three peoples were victims: the Sahrawi people of foreign colonisation, and the Moroccan and Mauritanian peoples of unpopular regimes allied with colonial powers. However, as time went on and the Sahrawi people endured greater sacrifices in their struggle, these progressive organisations retreated, eventually aligning themselves with the regimes regarding the Sahrawi cause. This shift, along with Spain's rupture of its commitments to Western Sahara, profoundly influenced Luali's thinking. Organising the resistance and instilling morale and motivation in the Sahrawis under siege was his great challenge.This situation imposed upon his people, small in number, limited in resources, and inexperienced, the most difficult test in their history. In Luali's eyes, a determined effort prevailed to secure alliances that would provide moral and material support for the revolution. Algeria and Libya became that historical shield. It is no exaggeration to say that all subsequent phases of the Sahrawi people's struggle were influenced by this fact. The leader's tenacity in creating this front was a historic achievement.
Luali experienced firsthand the material poverty of his people, despite the enormous resources of the Sahrawi subsoil; the humiliation, despite Sahrawi pride and resilience. He witnessed the details of the fate being plotted in foreign circles against his people, whose death was being planned. Therefore, when he proclaimed the revolution, he did so as an expression of profound rejection of injustice and misery:
- He always thought that the revolution was the result of the previous stages of the Sahrawi struggle, particularly its final phase, represented by the Sahrawi Liberation Movement and its leader, Basiri. He possessed the remarkable ability to shape history and alter the course of events from a long-term perspective.
- He transformed the desolation and panic that gripped refugees fleeing napalm and white phosphorus bombings into victory, joy, and defiance by proclaiming the birth of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
- He did not understand authority in the sense of a throne situated on high or as managing affairs from an ivory tower. He understood it as a consecration without limits and as guidance from the inside.
June 9th, Martyrs' Day, was conceived as a continuing commitment to loyalty, freedom, justice, national unity, social cohesion, human dignity, and the promise of equality for all citizens. It is a day for remembering those who have fallen so that this people can live with dignity and maintain its territorial integrity, as well as the enduring idea that sovereignty rests with the Sahrawi people, and that no one can supplant them or ignore their consent. The people should reflect on the importance of remembering all the Sahrawi martyrs, in particular MOHAMED SIDI BRAHIM BASIRI, LUALI MUSTAFA SAYED, and MOHAMED ABDELAZIZ, as historical references and symbolic figures, and as leaders whose experiences and thoughts should be studied in depth, understood, and updated, because any human work can be improved. The Sahrawi people must opt for the renewal and critical reflection necessary to move forward, understanding and learning from their legacies.
- Felipe Briones Vives is a Prosecutor at the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court of Spain (Criminal Section).
- Mohamed Limam Mohamed Ali Sidi Bachir is the Ambassador of Saharawi Republic to the Republic of Kenya
https://www.elindependiente.com/opinion/2026/06/09/luali-50-anos-despues/
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