More & more voices decry appalling situation in Tindouf camps
Experts, journalists and civil society activists continue to decry the appalling situation of the population sequestered in the Polisario-controlled Tindouf camps in Algeria.
On Saturday, it was from Dakhla that Spanish political expert Pedro Ignacio Altamirano called for “the urgent opening of a humanitarian corridor” in order to allow the populations in captivity in the Tindouf camps to return to their motherland, Morocco, to live in peace and security.
“We will ask all international organizations to urgently open a humanitarian passage to allow all the population held against its will in the Tindouf camps, on the Algerian territory, to return home and live in peace and prosperity like their brothers in the southern provinces of the Kingdom,” Altamirano told MAP, on the sidelines of meetings he held Saturday with elected officials of the region of Dakhla-Oued Eddahab.
Altamirano, who is spokesperson for the international peace group for the reunification of the Sahrawis, affirmed that the group underlines the need for the involvement of European and international civil society in the resolution of the conflict over the Sahara and the recognition of the full and entire sovereignty of Morocco over this territory.
In Paris, a group of associations of Moroccans settled in Europe organized Saturday a rally in solidarity with the population held captive in the Tindouf camps.
The rally is held to “alert and raise the awareness of the French and international public opinion about the atrocities, the ill-treatment and the despicable actions committed by a horde of mercenaries against the Moroccan Sahrawis held captive in the camps of shame in Tindouf “, underlined the Coalition of Moroccan associations in Europe in a press release.
The participants in the rally want through “this peaceful gathering, to put pressure on the Algerian military regime and its supporters to release the Moroccan Sahrawis in captivity in the Tindouf camps,” the press release said.
The participants denounced the plight of the Moroccan Sahrawis held against their will by the Polisario militias, with the support of the Algerian military regime and called on the international community to bear witness of the situation of these Saharawis “held hostage in the Tindouf camps, instrumentalized and used as a means of pressure to obtain humanitarian aid that the Polisario’s henchmen are embezzling for their own benefit.”
Last week, Spanish journalist Patricia Medjidi Juez denounced, the inhuman living conditions and the ordeal endured by the populations held captive in the Tindouf camps.
The journalist who was participating in a conference held in Agadir on the theme: “the Moroccan Sahara: historical and political geneses of the artificial conflict and the way for the solution”, said that she noticed, during a visit to the Tindouf camps, that the population in the camps do not benefit from international humanitarian aid and are suffering from famine.
This aid is being embezzled by the polisario leaders to finance personal acquisitions, including real estate abroad, she said.
Patricia Madjidi Juez, who contributed to the making of a documentary film entitled “From Tindouf to Laâyoune, the road to dignity”, noted that her stay in Tindouf and in the southern provinces of Morocco enabled her to see first-hand how the inhabitants of the Moroccan southern provinces lead a dignified life, work and live like any other citizen of the world, and how the populations of Tindouf are surviving in absolute poverty.
“I think this situation should be denounced clearly and categorically. The Polisario only cares about its own interests. I think the international community is already aware of this situation,” she said, underlining that the opening of consulates by foreign countries in the Moroccan Sahara is a message to the Polisario and constitutes a call to support Morocco’s efforts aimed at finding a lasting solution to this conflict.
