[9][10] Abdelaziz's father lived in Morocco with a part of his family and was a member of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs.

[12] His brother is Mohamed Lahbib Rguibi,[13] lawyer of many Sahrawi human rights activists such as Aminatou Haidar or Naama Asfari, and former "disappeared" in Moroccan prisons between 1976 and 1991.

Shortly after Spain relinquished control of the area to Mauritania and Morocco in the 1975 Madrid Accords, Polisario declared the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), leading to the Western Sahara War (1975–1991).

"[18] Under Abdelaziz, Polisario continued its guerrilla war against Morocco and Mauritania, until the latter's withdrawal in 1979 and the construction of the Moroccan Wall in 1980s.

[1] Abdelaziz was considered a secular nationalist[24] and steered the Polisario and the Sahrawi republic towards political compromise, notably in backing the United Nations' Baker Plan in 2003.