La situación en los campos de Tinduf roza el abismo
The continuous human rights violations in the Tindouf camps have finally overwhelmed the patience of the Sahrawi refugees. The weariness of those who have suffered years of treatment by the Polisario Front has led to a situation that observers have no hesitation in describing as unsustainable. This is largely due to a new attack by Polisario militants on the family of the secretary general of the Sahrawi Movement for Peace (MSP), Hach Ahmed Bericalla, in Dakhla, 160 kilometres from Tindouf. The aggression, denounced by Bericalla to the Special Representative for Western Sahara, Alexander Ivanko, only increases the tension in the camps.
From the Polisario they look askance at the progress made by the MSP, while at the same time they see how the families who fill the camps cannot stand the repeated aggressions. As a result, the incidents have become a constant and are being met with a response from refugees who, fed up with the treatment they have received, seem to have reached their limit. A few days ago, Polisario members carried out a chase after a vehicle that violated the law prohibiting movement after midnight. After driving into the housing area, the Polisario members assaulted one of the houses, assaulting the residents, who were only an old man and several women.
This new episode of violence by the Polisario Front finally broke the patience of some refugees who chose to attack the Polisario Gendarmerie headquarters. They set fire to both the headquarters and the vehicles of the gendarmerie in response to the aggressions received. The Forum of Support for Self-Government in the Camps argues that "anger began to escalate inside the camps to an intolerable level, so the masses began to let off steam".
Mohamed Salem Abdel Fattah, head of the Sahrawi Observatory for Media and Human Rights, told The Arab Weekly that the human rights violations suffered by the refugees have provoked a state of "rebellion and division inside the Tindouf camps". In addition, he says, one of the main triggers has been the "raids (by the Polisario Front) on homes that terrorised civilians". Moreover, through the gendarmerie, the Polisario carries out raids on the homes of opponents, leading to physical aggression, especially against women, according to Salem Abdel Fattah.
This type of action has been going on in the camps for years, but the fundamental problem is the increasing frequency with which it is taking place and, above all, the seriousness of the attacks by the front. Hach Ahmed Bericalla, after the attack on his family in Dakhla, said that "this is undoubtedly an unjustified aggression that shows the use of force in acts of repression, retaliation or revenge for political reasons in a civilian refugee camp inhabited mainly by women and children". And what concerned him most is that "this is not the first time that this type of aggression has occurred".
All these elements are fuelling an increasingly delicate situation that is provoking a response from the refugees. The region is warning that right now stability in Tindouf is hanging by a thread and that, if there is no significant change, it could have serious consequences for the Saharawis living there. Efforts must be stepped up because this trend has been growing for some time, as Bericalla himself recalled: "In September last year, my relatives in the same camp were victims of harassment by a mob manipulated by the discourse of hatred and intolerance propagated by the Polisario".
