Rabat — Three members of the Polisario Front have escaped the Tindouf camps in Algeria in an effort to flee to Morocco this week, waving a “white peace flag,” according to The Forum for the Autonomists of Tindouf (FORSATIN).
The source said the three individuals planned the escape operation for “some time and were waiting for the right moment to execute it.”
One of the members informed his family of his decision to flee the camp, FORSATIN said, noting that the escape comes as a “stark declaration of the growing dissatisfaction” among militia members.
FORSATIN continued that the escape also came to refute claims about its so-called war, adding that those who escape Tindouf are in contact with hundreds of Polisario militia members who are ready to flee the camps en masse as soon as an opportunity arises.
The escape came after news broke out of the Algerian regime’s shooting of Sahrawis in the camps earlier this month.
Reports said Algeria’s regime killed civilians in Tindouf, and injured several others.
Videos online showed porters angrily demonstrating against the deadly attack, threatening to move to Morocco.
“Do you want us to go to Morocco?… You’re killing our children here in cold blood,” a civilian is heard crying out to Algerian soldiers. An Algerian soldier is then heard telling him, “Go!”
This month, there has also been backlash and frustration across the camps after the Algerian regime attempted to kill two young Saharawis. The Algerian army opened fire at the young men, who were driving in a Mercedes.
“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.
In response, the Algerian regime’s patrol fired mercifully at the vehicle, shattering the front and rear windshields.
In March, FORSATIN also condemned the kidnapping of an elderly man who appeared in a new video calling for his son’s intervention.
In the video, the man said he is suffering a “slow death” for something he did not do, urging his son to intervene if he is still alive or dead.
“This statement suggests that the elder can no longer bear the captivity and is pleading with his son, even if deceased, as a sign that he can no longer endure his abduction and is turning to the dead for help to end his suffering,” FORSATIN wrote.
A lack of official numbers
The UNHCR has consistently shared unofficial data on Sahrawis in the camps based on approximate forecasts and estimations, as Algeria’s regime continues to hamper and refuse to allow the UN body to carry out a legitimate census.
UNHCR estimates that there are around 90,000 people in the Polisario-run camps.
Former Polisario leaders turned critics have long shared several reasons why Algeria and the Polisario are refusing to allow a census in the region.
Hamada El Bihi and Mustafa Salma, both former high-ranking officials in the separatist group, have argued that Polisario and Algeria refuse a census because only 20% of the camps’ population is actually of Sahrawi origin.
The former Polisario members indicate that 80% of the population in the camps consists of Tuareg people originating from countries across the Sahara desert, including Niger, Chad, Mali, Algeria, and Libya.
Several bodies, including the UN Security Council, have appealed for an official census to identify the real number of Sahrawis in Tindouf camps.
Resolution 2602 called for an official registration of people in the camps, a demand that was quickly and swiftly dismissed by both the Polisario Front and the Algerian regime.
