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Rabat — Tindouf camps continue to reel from the inhumane situation Sahrawis face, especially as Algeria’s regime, in addition to the Polisario Front leadership, continues to deprive the refugees of their fundamental rights, including freedom of movement.
The latest controversy that sparked anger and frustration across the camps is the Algerian regime’s involvement in the killing of young Sahrawis after the army opened fire against them.
Protests swamped the camps after the Algerian regime killed at least one man, while nine others were injured, three of them critically.
Several videos online showed protesters angrily protesting the deadly attack.
Despite the ongoing backlash, Saturday last week marked another attempt at assassination after the Algerian regime opened fire against two young Saharawis on Friday.
The Forum for the Autonomists of Tindouf (FORSATIN) talked about the story of the two young Sahrawis, where the two young men were on a trip in a Mercedes car.
“The two young men were surprised by an Algerian army patrol, which was unusual in that location. One of the soldiers ordered them to stop, but the driver panicked, recalling what had happened in the ‘Dakhla camp,’ where the Algerian army mercilessly killed two young men,” FORSATIN said.
Both the driver and his companion decided not to comply with the instructions out of fear, recalling the murder of the two young men who were killed.
The Algerian regime’s patrol, however, fired mercifully at the vehicle, shattering the front and rear windshields.
I also hit one of the tires and damaged the car’s exterior, the source added, noting that the two young men managed to continue driving for about a kilometer until the car broke down, forcing them to get out and flee on foot.
Their relatives responded to the assassination attempt by protesting, expelling the patrol, and seizing their vehicles to prevent further harm to other Sahrawis.
FORSATIN took issue with how the Algerian regime has not been deterred by the protests that came in response to the killing of one Sahrawi and the injuries to several others recently.
“It seeks that the Algerian regime and its soldiers have no regard for Sahrawi lives. This situation calls for the Sahrawis to unite and organize to stop this blatant aggression against innocent people,” FORSATIN added, adding that the situation further proves the Polisario leadership’s weakness in the face of the Algerian regime, whose officers, soldiers, and patrols roam the camps with no respect for its Sahrawis.
Several reports continue to draw attention to the deteriorating living conditions of Sahrawis in Algeria’s Tindouf camps.
The international community’s inaction compounds this situation as an additional concern.
In 2023, a report from the World Food Program confirmed the inhumane living conditions Sahrawis face in the camps.
“For the past 45 years, the population living in the camps has continued to suffer food insecurity and malnutrition, with high rates of anemia due to the scarcity of fresh and diverse food and the limited access to water, and therefore continues to depend on external food assistance,” the report recognized.
Several other reports over the past decade also linked the distressing situation in the camps to Algeria and Polisario’s embezzlement of international humanitarian aid meant for the Sahrawi population.
One of the reports documenting this was from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in 2015.
Notably, the report showcased embezzlement of aid between 2003 and 2017 and exposed Polisario’s direct involvement in selling humanitarian aid in Algerian, Mauritanian, and sub-Saharan markets without any intervention from Algeria, the Tindouf camps’ host country.
