As the Polisario militias continue blocking the free flow of commercial traffic on the Guerguarat border crossing between Morocco and Mauritania, food markets in Nouakchott are suffering from an acute shortage in vegetables and fruits. Morocco is Mauritania’s main supplier of fresh produce and the provocations of the Polisario caused many trucks to return to the cities of Morocco’s southern provinces instead of continuing their way to Mauritanian market and beyond. Morocco and the UN have denounced the hindrance of commercial traffic in the strongest terms but the Polisario seems intent on breaching the 1991 UN-brokered ceasefire which provides for maintaining the border strip between Morocco and Mauritania as a demilitarized area. Mauritanian vegetables and fruits salesmen complained of the blockade of the road and the shortage of Moroccan agricultural products which sent prices skyrocketing. Morocco tops African exporters with 44.3% of total supplies to Mauritania in the first half this year.

Source: The North Africa Journal October 30, 2020 13:30 UTC