Western Sahara: The Sahrawis in Tindouf victims of deadlocked negotiations

The declaration of the Moroccan foreign affairs Minister about the weak chances of the Western Sahara negotiations success because of their being deadlocked by the Polisario and Algeria, finds its meaning particularly in the underhand relationship existing between Algeria and the Separatist movement. It is clear, the Polisario can not take decisions independently of Algiers. In such a case, can it assert its right to handle negotiations ? does it have the right to present itself as the representative of the Sahrawis which it pretends to defend ? The blockade imposed on thousands of Sahrawis confined in Tindouf camps, as well as the absence of the least freedom of expression in these camps, are elements reflecting a situation of imposture rather than representativeness. Because despite of the international insistence and human rights non-governmental organizations, Algiers and the Polisario have till now refused that the HCR proceeds to a  census of the Sahrawis in Tindouf.

Imperturbably, the Polisario and Algeria keep the camps closed to the external world, without any means of international control about what is going really inside. Dozens of thousands of Sahrawis are confined by force in an inhospitable desert in the South-West of Algeria, not for their own cause, but to serve the Algerian political aims in the regions. Aims which are thwarted by the process of negotiations led since 2007 under the UN aegis. And all the dynamics of the UN process is based on the Moroccan autonomy proposal for the Sahara. This is what explains the blockade imposed by Algiers and the Polisario. While waiting for a freeing of the situation, dozens of thousands of men and women  continue languishing in shameful conditions which an unbearable desert can offer under the inquisitive eye of the Algerian armed forces and the Polisario militia.

 

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