MADRID (AP) — The man leading the Polisario Front in its fight for independence of Western Sahara is hospitalized in Spain for treatment of COVID-19. The 73-year-old Brahim Ghali heads the Algeria-backed pro-independence group representing the local Sahrawi population that has periodically fought Moroccan forces for control of the territory in western Africa. The self-declared government also headed by Ghali says he is “recovering favorably” from the disease caused by the coronavirus. The Spanish Foreign Ministry says Ghali was taken to Spain “for strictly humanitarian reasons.” Home to some 600,000 people, Western Sahara territory has been under dispute at least since Morocco annexed it in 1975.
