Rabat – A group of Sahrawis in the Polisario-run Tindouf camps have launched a campaign to decry the unbearable living conditions imposed on camp inhabitants, according to Moroccan newspaper Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.
The movement, Sahrawi Initiative for Change, is aimed at defying the “archaism” and the “mummification” of the Polisario’s leadership, who have been accused of total detachment from the reality of the camps.
According to the newspaper, the movement pushes for a radical change in approach to find a solution to the crisis that the Sahrawi populations have suffered for more than four decades.
The movement is planning to hold its assembly in the Tindouf camps, in conjunction with several activities, in hopes of drawing global attention to the social, political, and economic situation in the camps.
Al Ahdath added that the movement’s founders recently released a statement asking the camp population to support them massively and openly in order to defy the separatist group, which has been accused of the illegal appropriation and resale humanitarian aid on the black market.
The newspaper added that this initiative comes at a time when the separatist group and its leader, Ibrahim Ghali, are trying to prevent the Sahrawi camp population to withhold its public condemnation of the camps.
Earlier this month, Morocco’s Head of Affairs in Geneva Hassan Boukili condemned the living situation of of the Sahrawi population in the Tindouf Camps, accusing Algeria of shirking its international responsibility towards the population.
Speaking at the 71st session of the Standing Committee of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Boukili emphasized that Morocco’s eastern neighbor is, “the only country to oppose the implementation of all the feasible solutions for the populations in the Tindouf camps.”
Boukili added that Algeria, “has chosen to suffer an alleged situation of Sahrawi refugees of its own creation.” He notes that the country is the only one to refuse to conduct a headcount of the populations in the Tindouf camps.
Boukili has also urged the international community to address the causes behind the persistence of refugee-related crises, including the militarization of Tindouf camps and the exploitation of refugees to serve Algeria’s separatist agenda.
