Geneva: Morocco reiterates calls for ending sufferings of sequestered populations in Tindouf Camps & for their registration

Morocco has urged again the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to end the five-decade humanitarian crisis suffered by the sequestered populations in the Polisario-controled Tindouf camps,southern Algeria.

Addressing the UNHCR’s 76th Executive Committee session,Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva,Omar Zniber urged the UN agency to conduct an “independent and immediate registration” of the sequestered populations in Tindouf camps and ensure “unfettered humanitarian access” to these besieged camps.

The Moroccan diplomat denounced the international community inaction,describing the situation as “abnormal and unique” in the history of the UNHCR.

In 2005,Inspector General Office of the UNHCR had called for “immediate and independent registration” of the populations held in the camps of Tindouf,but two decades later the UN agency authority remains dead letter and unheeded,said Mr. Zniber.

He also stressed the need to strengthen monitoring and control mechanisms of humanitarian assistance to avoid embezzlement and ensure that the humanitarian aid reaches the beneficiaries.

The EU anti-fraud office (OLAF) has on multiple occasions denounced,with documented evidence,the embezzlement of humanitarian aid by the Polisario leadership and Algerian generals.

OLAF has exposed the system put in place by the Polisario leaders in connivance of Algerian officials,from the unloading of international humanitarian aid in the port of Oran until reaching the markets in Algeria,Mauritania and even Mali.

The foodstuff,intended to be distributed free of charge to the inhabitants of the camps,is out of stock in the Tindouf camps warehouses,as large quantities were sold over-the-counter in Algerian grocery stores.