Social media exposes Polisario’s human rights violations-official

The era of media-black out in the Polisario-run Tindouf camps is over. The internet and social media have exposed the abhorrent treatment inflicted on thousands of Sahraouis held against their will in the camps in South Western Algeria, said Morocco’s ambassador to the UN Omar Hilale.

The Polisario separatists, in connivance with Algeria, turned the Tindouf camps into an “open air prison,” he said, adding that the internet and social media help expose the “serious rights abuses perpetrated there.”

He compared the Polisario militias to a “Stalinist oligarchy” that trades in the suffering of Sahraouis in the camps.

Morocco has alerted to the degrading treatment suffered by the camps population, he said, putting the blame on Algeria for forsaking a part of its territory to a separatist militia.

He added that Algeria abdicated its legal responsibility on the conditions prevailing in Tindouf camps to the Polisario leadership, which has been accused on multiple occasions by international rights groups for breaches as well as embezzlement of humanitarian aid.

The latest report of the UN Secretary General on the Sahara has indeed called on the Polisario to halt their systematic violations of human rights in Tindouf camps notably after the population held against their will there staged protests, marches and sit-ins against restrictions on their freedom of movement.

Guterres echoed the demands of the camps population to know the whereabouts of El khalil Ahmed Braih who has been missing since 2009.

The UN report also denounced the excessive use of force by the Polisario armed men against civilian protests in the camp.

Growing support for Morocco’s autonomy proposal

Meanwhile, Hilale voiced satisfaction with the international community’s support for the Kingdom’s initiative to grant autonomy to the Sahara.

This came as a result of a “national consensus, active diplomacy and relevance of the autonomy initiative,” he said.

He underscored the vitality of the Sahara issue as a national cause for all Moroccans not only for politicians.

The Moroccan diplomacy has reaped the reward of its active engagement in Africa, the Pacific, Asia and Latin America, he said.

Hilale also underscored the support of the local Sahara population for the autonomy plan, adding that living conditions in Morocco’s southern provinces stand in stark contrast to the inhumanity and cruelty inflicted on Sahraouis in the Polisario-administered camps.

Human development in the Sahara outpaces national average as Morocco has invested heavily in the region’s economic and social infrastructure.

“Morocco has spent nearly $8 billion over the last three or four years to boost economic activity and build structural projects, such as the largest port in West Africa, planned in Dakhla, and which will be a hub between Europe, Africa and America,” he said.