El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed
Sahrawi nationalist leader and co-founder of the Polisario Front.
El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed (also known as El Uali, El-Wali, Luali or Lulei; 1948 – 9 June 1976) was a Sahrawi nationalist leader, co-founder and second Secretary-General of the Polisario Front. Born in 1948 in a Sahrawi nomad encampment somewhere on the hammada desert plains of eastern Spanish Sahara or northern Mauritania—with some sources citing Bir Lehlou, a symbolic location for the Polisario Front as the site of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic’s proclamation—he came from a poor family with a disabled father. Severe drought and the aftermath of the Ifni War forced his family to abandon their traditional Bedouin lifestyle, settling near Tan-Tan in what is now southern Morocco by the late 1950s; some accounts state they were deported there by Spanish authorities in 1960. He began primary school in Tan-Tan in 1962, then attended the Islamic Institute in Taroudannt in 1966, earning scholarships to study law and political sciences at university in Rabat in 1970. There he met other young Sahrawi diaspora members, all influenced by the radicalism sweeping Moroccan universities in the early 1970s, which was heavily shaped by the May 1968 events in France. He became the first alumnus in Moroccan university history to achieve a score of 19 out of 20 in constitutional law. He also traveled to Europe once, visiting Amsterdam and Paris. El-Ouali was associated with Ila al-Amam, a clandestine Marxist group that explicitly supported Sahrawi self-determination. Disturbed by Spanish colonial rule, he was deeply impressed by the Zemla Intifada, though never involved with the Harakat Tahrir. In 1972 he returned to Tan-Tan and began organizing the Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro. After a Sahrawi demonstration in Tan-Tan in June 1972, he and 19 others were detained and tortured by Moroccan police. He then met with other Sahrawi groups from inside Western Sahara, Algeria, and Mauritania, and in 1973 they founded the Polisario Front. Days later, he and Brahim Ghali led six poorly armed guerrillas in the 20 May 1973 El-Khanga raid, the Polisario’s first armed action, targeting a Spanish military post. El-Ouali and another fighter were briefly captured but escaped when the remaining patrol overran the Spanish troops. This strike was followed by similar attacks on isolated targets, gathering weapons and equipment until full-scale guerrill
- known_for
- Co-founder and second Secretary-General of the Polisario Front; led the first ar
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Lore & Background
El-Ouali was born in 1948 in a Sahrawi nomad encampment somewhere on the hammada desert plains in eastern Spanish Sahara or northern Mauritania; some sources give his place of birth as Bir Lehlou. His parents were poor and his father disabled, and with the severe drought that year and the consequences of the Ifni War, the family abandoned the traditional bedouin lifestyle, settling near Tan-Tan (nowadays southern Morocco) in the late 1950s. Some sources state that Ouali's family was deported among others to Morocco by Spanish authorities in 1960. He went to primary school in Tan-Tan in 1962, then to the Islamic Institute in Taroudannt in 1966 with impressive results, earning scholarships to attend university in Rabat in 1970, where he studied law and political sciences. He was the first alumnus in the history of Moroccan universities to achieve a punctuation of 19 out of 20 in Constitutional law. He was associated with Ila al-Amam, a clandestine Marxist group that took a position explicitly in favor of Sahrawi self-determination. In 1972, he returned to Tan-Tan and began organizing a group called the Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro. After a Sahrawi demonstration in Tan-Tan in June 1972, a group of 20 participants including Ouali were detained and tortured by the Moroccan police. In 1973 he co-founded the Polisario Front. Days after its foundation, on 20 May 1973, El-Ouali and Brahim Ghali led a group of six poorly armed guerrillas in the El-Khanga raid, the first armed action of the Polisario Front. El-Ouali and another fighter were briefly captured, but escaped when the remaining patrol headed by Ghali overran the Spanish troops. In August 1974, El-Ouali was elected Secretary-General of the Polisario, replacing Brahim Ghali. By 1975 the Polisario had forced Spain to retreat into major coastal cities. After the joint Moroccan–Mauritanian invasion in late 1975, El-Ouali escorted Sahrawi refugees into exile in the Tindouf camps in Algeria. From there, as Secretary-General, he presided over the establishing of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. He was known for fighting at the front line with his troops. On 9 June 1976, El-Ouali was killed by a shrapnel piece through the head returning from a major Polisario raid on the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, in which they bombarded the Presidential palace. His body was sent to Nouakchott and buried secretly in a military terrain; in 1996, 20 years after his death, his exact resting place was revealed.
Reader's Guide
El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed is a foundational figure in the Sahrawi nationalist movement. As co-founder and second Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, he transformed a small guerrilla group into the primary organization representing Sahrawi self-determination, leading its first armed action and overseeing the proclamation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. His legacy is preserved through eponymous institutions—the El Uali Mustapha Sayed Special School in Cuba and the Martyr El Wali Mostapha Military School in the Sahrawi refugee camps—as well as through coins minted in 1997 (two 40,000 Sahrawi Pesetas gold coins depicting him alongside Simon Bolivar, commemorating 15 years of friendship between Western Sahara and Venezuela), a published biography titled 'Luali: Now or never, the liberty' (1997), and his image in Sahrawi traditional music (the group 'Shahid El Hafed Buyema' changed its name to 'Shahid El Uali' shortly after his death). The day of his death, 9 June, has been declared The Day of the Martyrs, a holiday of the republic that honors all Sahrawi victims in the war for independence. In Mauritania, 9 June was declared by President Mokhtar Ould Daddah the day of the Mauritanian Armed Forces. The article notes disputed claims by Alexander Mehdi Bennouna that El-Ouali was the son of a member of the Moroccan Army of Liberation, a member of UNEM, and recruited by Mohamed Bennouna to join the 'Tanzim'—an Arabic nationalist and socialist organization—and that he was supposedly trained in Libya; these claims are not confirmed by the source's main narrative.
Did You Know?
- El-Ouali was the first alumnus in the history of Moroccan universities to achieve a punctuation of 19 out of 20 in Constitutional law.
- He was killed by a shrapnel piece through the head on 9 June 1976, returning from a raid on Nouakchott that bombarded the Presidential palace.
- His body was buried secretly in a military terrain in Nouakchott; his exact resting place was not revealed until 1996, 20 years after his death.
- Two gold coins of 40,000 Sahrawi Pesetas were minted in 1997 depicting El-Ouali alongside Simon Bolivar, commemorating 15 years of friendship between Western Sahara and Venezuela.
- The Sahrawi traditional music group 'Shahid El Hafed Buyema' changed its name to 'Shahid El Uali' shortly after his death.
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