The Polisario is facing a quasi-insurrectionary situation in the Tindouf camps, where the youths no longer tolerate their dire living conditions and are desperate as their future seems so gloomy, according to information leaked from a meeting between UN envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, and Western officials.

The Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which is claiming the independence of the Western Sahara, is under strong pressure in the Tindouf camps, according to the information revealed by Spanish journalist Ignacio Sembrero.

The information can hardly be denied in view of the increasing clashes between the camps residents and the Polisario militia. The latest example of such confrontations is the case of Mahjouba, the young Spanish-Sahrawi whose so-called escape from Tindouf triggered protests that were violently repressed.

Other cases of violence that sometimes result in death are reported almost daily. Earlier this year, two young Sahrawis were killed by Algerian military while they were trying to cross the border into Mauritania.

Now, the violence and repression repeatedly denounced by many NGOs are taking more serious dimensions. The prohibition of any form of expression or standpoint contrary to the Polisario’s theory and the banning of any movement outside the camps have exhausted these youths’ patience.

The Polisario, feeling it is being cornered, is trying to divert attention by threatening to resort to arms again against Morocco. A headlong rush that the front, headed by Mohamed Abdelaziz, does not control as it does not control anything else.

The Sahrawis in the Tindouf camps, being fully aware that the Front’s margin of independence is very narrow, are skeptical about these threats. Everyone knows that the Polisario is entirely dependent on Algeria, which supports it financially and militarily, and therefore serves only to implement the orders given by Algerian generals.