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Strasbourg – EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, said on Thursday in Strasbourg that she in favor of a census of Tindouf camps populations.
In a reply to a MEP’s question about the need of such a census, alluding to the embezzlement of EU humanitarian aid by the Polisario, Mogherini noted that there “had indeed been problems.”
“There has to be a census” of Tindouf camps populations, the European Commission Vice President added during a meeting of the European Parliament’s committee on budget control.
The EU Commission allocates annually € 10 million for Tindouf camps population.
The report issued by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) revealed the existence of mass embezzlement of European aid sent to the Tindouf populations.
The investigation conducted by OLAF teams revealed the existence of networks involved in large-scale diversion of the international humanitarian assistance, and noted that aid was extended on the basis of inaccurate figures, since no census of the population has ever been conducted.
Last March several members of the European Parliament (MEPs) called on EU to halt sending humanitarian aid to the camps of Tindouf until a census of the population in the camps is conducted.
The MEPs submitted a draft resolution urging the European Commission to immediately stop sending humanitarian aid as long as the exact number of the camps’ population is not established through a census by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
With MAP
