w f p not to increase aids to Tindouf

WFP not to increase aids to Tindouf inhabitants if population census is not undertaken, WFP official

Rome, Mar. 8 - The World Food Program will not increase the aids destined to the inhabitants of Tindouf camps as long as a population census is not undertaken, said WFP deputy-director Ramiro Lopez da Silva.

    In a meeting with a delegation of the "comité spécial chargé du Sahara marocain en Europe" (CSCSME), Ramiro Lopez da Silva said that contrary to the propaganda campaign circulated by Polisario and some Algerian media outlets, WFP ensured that the camps are not facing famine threat, noting, however, that there are some problems related to malnutrition due to the poor health conditions in the camps.

    CSCSME President, El Hassane Benhammou urged the WFP to launch an investigation in order to shed light on the embezzlement of a large part of the aids destined to the sequestered in Tindouf camps, which are sold in the region's markets.

    Benhammou noted that the Moroccan sahrawis sequestered in Tindouf camps should not be considered as refugees but as a sequestered population that are used by the Polisario to collect humanitarian aids. He recalled that CSCSME has tried to visit Lahmada camps in order to identify the needs of these populations, but was blocked by the Algerian authorities that impose a siege on the Sahrawis.

    He underlined that the Algerian authorities categorically refuse to issue permits to the sequestered who whish to leave the camps due to the important number of the Sahrawis who have joined the motherland, Morocco.

    Morocco is devising a proposal to grant substantial autonomy to its southern provinces, the aim being to settle a dispute over the territory triggered by the claims of the Algeria-backed Polisario to separate this former Spanish colony from the rest of Morocco. As the dispute broke out in the mid-Seventies, the Polisario lured thousands of Sahrawi into joining its claim of the creation of a so-called Sahrawi Republic. These Moroccan citizens have been kept ever since against their will in refugee camps southwestern Algeria.