UN Refugee Agency closes its offices in Tindouf and Laayoune, signaling major shift in Sahara issue

The UN refugee agency has decided to close its offices in Laayoune (Southern Morocco) and Tindouf camps (Algeria) by the end of September 2025, according to diplomatic sources cited by several press reports.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has informed its employees in these two locations as well as 14 employees operating in Rabat that their contracts will be terminated by Sept.30. The UN agency said it will end operations in the three coming months due to lack of funding.

The UNHCR had supervised the Confidence-Building Measures program, launched by the UN nearly twenty years ago.

This program had allowed thousands of Sahrawis, residing either in the Sahara or in the Tindouf camps, to visit their families. In 2013, the Polisario separatist front unilaterally announced its withdrawal from the program. The UN attempted twice, in 2016 and 2019, to revive the family visits between the two sides, without success.

Some experts say the withdrawal of the UNHCR comes following the growing international recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the entire Saharan territory and support for the autonomy plan offered by the North African Kingdom for the Sahara as the ONLY realistic solution to the Sahara regional conflict.

Additionally, the move reflects a shift in the UN’s perspective, no longer viewing those living in Tindouf camps as refugees but as permanent residents on Algerian soil, suffering inhumane conditions and deprived of basic human rights, including freedom of expression and movement.

On the contrary, Moroccan Sahrawis are living in peace, security, and prosperity in Laayoune and other Moroccan southern provinces, which are witnessing inclusive growth and impressive socioeconomic development.

The UNHCR’s decision sends a strong message to the Algerian regime and their Polisario puppets, telling them that their game and procrastination tactics are over.

Both the Algerian junta and the separatist group are using innocent people held in Tindouf camps to serve their own political agenda, fuel continuous tension in the region and blackmail international community to get humanitarian aid which they re-sale in black markets to line-up their pockets.

After five decades and billions of dollars spent, no progress has been made and the UN-led political process for the resolution of the Sahara issue remains stalled due to the disengagement and procrastination of Algeria and Polisario.

Experts say time has come to end failed peacekeeping missions such as MINURSO and UNHCR which at best, do nothing and, at worst, preserve conflict.