Algeria kills two, injures 9 Sahrawi protesters near Tindouf

Two Sahrawi gold prospectors were killed in the desert near Tindouf and nine others were injured by the Algerian army, triggering protests in the area.

The Algerian army imposes a siege on the Tindouf camps where thousands of Sahrawis have been held against their will for decades. Many disenchanted Sahrawi youth have been shot before for leaving the camps or seeking revenue generating activity like prospecting for gold. Some have joined trafficking groups while many have been recruited by terrorist groups operating in the Sahel.

The new killing of two gold prospectors triggered protests by Sahrawis. A video shared on social media showed Algerian men in uniform dispersing protesters, who said they want to join Morocco.

Ahmed Barikalla, a representative of the Sahrawi Movement for Peace (MSP), which challenges the Polisario, strongly condemned this crime by the Algerian army in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy to the Sahara, who is preparing for a briefing before the UN Security Council.

Protests by refugees in the Polisario-administered Tindouf camps have intensified in recent months, leading to clashes with the Algerian army. Algeria has denied the population in the camps the freedom of movement and continues to block any census by the UN refugee agency that would give the Sahrawis the right to return to their homeland in the southern provinces.

As Algeria and the Polisario continue to use the Sahrawis as political pawns, terrorist groups, along with trafficking networks, have been recruiting from the camps.

The Polisario and Algeria have been accused by the EU anti-fraud agency, OLAF, of embezzling aid. To do so the Polisario has prevented the Sahrawis from leaving the camps, while inflating figures of the camps’ population.