The Tindouf, Algeria Camps – Refugees or Hostages?

Tens of thousands of Sahrawi refugees live in harsh and inhospitable desert refugee camps in southwestern Algeria under the control of the Polisario Front and their sponsor, Algeria. These refugees are not free to leave these camps and return to Morocco. Instead, they are hostage to the political ambitions of the Polisario Front leadership and their supporters in Algeria. They are being deprived of adequate food, clothing, and medical supplies by the Polisario leadership that routinely steals much of this aid for sale on black markets in Algeria, Mauritania, and Mali. UN agencies have documented this chronic diversion of aid, yet the Polisario continues to ask for increased aid donations from concerned United Nations relief and refugee organizations, despite the acknowledged lack of any real accountability for the humanitarian assistance. (Click here for more information . . .)

MACP Press Releases & Useful Documents

“Former Refugees in Washington, DC this week speak out for thousands still held in Polisario camps” (May 5, 2008)

“Members of Congress Pledge to Address Inhumane Conditions and Theft of Humanitarian Aid in Polisario Refugee Camps” (May 12, 2008)

MACP Report: Basic Findings from Interviews with Recent Returnees from Tindouf (April 2008)

Timeline: Western Sahara (April 2008)

Recent Related Headlines

New York Times - "Western Sahara’s Conflict Traps Refugees in Limbo" (June 4, 2008)

Associated Press/International Herald Tribune – “Refugees from Western Sahara speak of hardships” (May 16, 2008)

Human Events.com – “The Polisario 'Berlin Wall'” (May 16, 2008)

Middle East Times – “The forgotten tribes of the Sahara” (May 15, 2008)