The Poliario leadership continues to profit from the suffering of the Sahrawis that they are holding hostage at Tindouf camps in south-western Algeria. This time, it’s the turn of the foreign representative for the Algeria-backed militia, who just opened a second private clinic in Ecuador and a clinic he owns in Panama.
The Sahrawis held hostage by Tindouf suffer from inaccessible medical care. The Algerian state has done little to improve the situation. Meanwhile, thousands of Sahrawis are under the control of a brutal militia that engages with humanitarian aid embezzlement and malnutrition in Tindouf.
Mohamed Salem Ould Salek is the so-called foreign Minister of the Algerian-sponsored polisario republic. He has given management of the two clinics located in Latin America to his son.
Opposition group in support of Morocco’s autonomy initiative within the camps known as Forsatin said the new investments in Latin America are reflective of an endemic corruption within the Algeria-funded Polisario elite.
“It is clear that this funding comes from the humanitarian aid funds destined to the refugee camps in Tinduf. It is important to note that all those medical equipments were meant to be donated as humanitarian aid to the camps. However, those medical equipments are smuggled abroad, sold or transferred to the private projects of Polisario’s leadership illegally, and through fake companies affiliated to the Polisario totalitarian regime,” Forsatin said in a statement.
In 2020, the theft of humanitarian aid has showed cracks within the separatists’ edifice after senior Polisario leaders Bashir Mustapha Sayid called for the leadership to step down because of its involvement in what he described as “piracy in Tindouf” amid coronavirus concerns.
Algeria tried to downplay the extent of the chaos in the camps and the danger facing the population held against their will in the camps by imposing an media blackout.
Algeria has abandoned its responsibilities and left a civilian population at the mercy of a separatist militia, ranging from embezzlement of humanitarian aid by Polisario officials to slavery.
Algeria’s obstinacy to refuse allowing a head-count of the population of the Polisario-run camps prompted the EU to reduce aid sent to these camps in a bid to curb humanitarian aid diversion.
After an OLAF report, which condemned the embezzlement by the Polisario leadership as well as officials from Algeria, the EU anti fraud office (OLAF), the EU Commission took the decision. Therefore, the European Commission decided to cut aid commensurately with the estimated number of 90,000 people instead of the inflated 165,000 people put forward by the Polisario and Algeria in an attempt to sell the idea of the existence of a “Sahraoui People” with a “republic” in exile.
International aid agencies will be able to conduct a head count of Tindouf’s population to determine the needs of the population. This will also allow camp dwellers to apply for refugee status which will give them the right of return to their homeland Morocco, or at the very least the freedom to choose their country of asylum. This is what Algeria and the Polisario fear the most, as they continue trading in the suffering of Sahraouis living below the poverty line.
Source: north africa post
