Polisario-run Tindouf camps, ‘breeding ground’ for terrorists- The National Interest

The Polisario-run Tindouf camps have become a “breeding ground” for the recruitment of jihadists in full connivance of Algerian regime, said a recent analysis published on the National Interest, a leading US media focusing on geopolitics.

The op-ed by, Ahmed Sharawi, notes how Algeria perpetuated the conflict over the Sahara territory and abandoned its sovereignty over the Tindouf camps, ruled now by the Polisario militias.

The camps “have become a breeding ground for jihadist recruitment and a nexus for extremist networks operating across the Sahel,” he said.

The group’s ties to extremism are well documented. Adnan Abu al-Walid al-Sahrawi, a former Polisario fighter, went on to lead the Islamic State in the Greater Sahel (ISGS) before being killed by French forces in Mali in 2021, he said.

The analysis recalls that in 2008, the Fath al-Andalus terror cell emerged from the Tindouf camps, followed by the “Khilafah” group in 2009, which pledged allegiance to ISIS.

It also underscored how a German intelligence report noted that “ISIS and al-Qaeda operate freely in the Tindouf camps and the broader Sahel-Sahara region.”

The Polisario’s most recent terrorist activities include its withdrawal from a 29-year ceasefire in 2020, and its multiple attacks targeting Moroccan civilians since 2021, Sharawi said.

Polisario also has a long record of recruiting child soldiers. A Geneva-based NGO told the UN Human Rights Council that Polisario systematically blocks children from completing their education, forcing them into military training and combat, the article added.

Meanwhile, the writer notes the global momentum in support of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara territory, with the UK being the latest Security Council country to back Rabat’s territorial integrity, following the example of the US, Spain, Israel, France and a growing number of Arab and African states.