Brahim Ghali is a Sahrawi politician, military officer and current president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, formerly its ambassador to Algeria and Spain.
15 Facts About Brahim Ghali
2.
Brahim Ghali was instrumental in the creation of the Movement for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Wadi el Dhahab, the 1970 Zemla Intifada against Spanish rule, the foundation of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro in 1973, and the Sahrawi Republic in 1976.
3.
Brahim Ghali played a major role in the Western Sahara War and establishment of MINURSO, the UN peacekeeping mission for the Western Sahara.
4.
Brahim Ghali was born in Smara on 16 September 1949.
5.
Brahim Ghali joined the Spanish-led Nomadic Troops in the late 1960s and was dispatched to Smara for administrative work.
6.
Brahim Ghali participated in the AOLS demonstration held in El Aaiun on 16 June 1970, which passed to be known as the Zemla Intifada.
7.
Brahim Ghali was freed in 1971 but was briefly detained again in 1972 for taking part in demonstrations.
8.
Brahim Ghali was one of the original founders and leaders of the Polisario Front in 1973 and was elected as the first General Secretary of the movement at its constitutive congress.
9.
Alongside El Uali Mustapha Sayed, Brahim Ghali led the El-Khanga raid, the first military action of the POLISARIO against a desert post of the Spanish Army, overrunning the position and gathering weapons and equipment.
10.
In 1974, as El Uali was elected as the new POLISARIO General Secretary, Brahim Ghali was selected to command the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army, its military wing.
11.
Brahim Ghali remained in that post until 1989 when he was chosen as Commander-in-chief of the Second Military Region.
12.
At an election held on 9 July 2016, in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Brahim Ghali was chosen as the next President and Secretary-General of SADR.
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Brahim Ghali replaced longtime leader Mohamed Abdelaziz, who died on 31 May 2016.
14.
Brahim Ghali paid a presidential visit to the Nigerian President, President Mohammadu Buhari on Thursday, 13 June 2019, at the villa in Abuja, Nigeria.
15.
Brahim Ghali was re-elected as president and Secretary-General of SADR on 20 January 2023, obtaining 1,253 congressmembers' votes to opponent Bachir Mustafa Sayed's 563.