Moroccan Ambassador: Over 20,000 People Fled Tindouf Camps

Morocco’s ambassador to the UN, Omar Hilale, said thousands of Sahrawis risked their lives to escape the inhuman conditions in Tindouf camps.

Hilale made several remarks in response to claims and allegations that Soufiane Mimouni, Algeria’s UN representative, made during a UN C24 committee seminar in Dominica.

In response to the allegations undermining Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over Western Sahara, Hilale said that the self-determination of the “population of the Moroccan Sahara was achieved with Morocco’s recovery of its Saharan provinces.”

The ambassador listed several other factors and evidence to highlight the rights local populations enjoy in Morocco’s southern provinces.

The diplomat emphasized the massive participation of Sahrawis in Morocco’s previous legislative, municipal, communal, and regional elections.

Hilale said that the election marked the highest participation rate in Morocco (more than 65%), “which is by no means the case of the very low participation of 0.1% in Kabylia, Algeria.”

The Moroccan UN representative also condemned the inhuman conditions Sahrawis are experiencing in Tindouf camps, saying that tens of thousands of Moroccan Sahrawis risked their lives to flee the camps and return to their motherland, Morocco.

“More than 20,000 people have fled the Tindouf camps and several dozen have been killed by the Algerian army or by ‘polisario’ mercenaries while trying to escape.”

Slamming Algeria, Hilale said: “Which territory or country invited to this seminar has a bellicose neighbor that has imposed an armed conflict on them for decades and is attacking them through a separatist group? None, Only Algeria is guilty of this single most serious anomaly with regard to Morocco and its Sahara.”

He added that Algeria exhibits hostile behavior at every opportunity toward Morocco and its territorial integrity.

“The Kabyle People, who existed long before the creation of the Algerian state, also have the right to self-determination. Why does Algeria deny them what it requires for the Moroccans of the Sahara, going so far as to impose on the Kingdom a conflict for 45 years, by a separatist armed group?” he said.

The Algerian UN delegation’s Morocco-bashing claims during the C24 seminar add to Algiers’ recent decision to sever diplomatic ties with Morocco.

The Algerian government justified its move by accusing Morocco of colluding with “enemies of the Algerian people” to destabilize Algeria. Algiers notably claimed that Morocco had a hand in the wildfires that broke out in early August in northern Algeria.

Morocco has vigorously condemned and rejected the claims, saying that it “regretted” Algeria’s “unilateral” and “unexplained” decision to sever ties with its North African neighbor. The Moroccan government added, however, that Morocco will remain a loyal and credible partner for the Algerian people despite political divergences.