New York- The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has called for the registration of the population living in the Tindouf camps in his annual report to the United Nations on the “Situation in the western Sahara.”
While making no recommendation on the expansion of the MINURSO, Ban Ki-moon’s report highlights the need to conduct a census in the Tindouf camps.
“I note continuing questions about the number of refugees requiring assistance. These highlight the need to address the registration of the refugee population,” the UN chief said in paragraph 77 of his annual report.
This is the first time the UNSG’s annual report on the territorial dispute has included a recommendation calling for a census in the Tindouf camps.
Conducting a census in the camps has been a longstanding request from the Moroccan government, which has long accused Algeria and the Polisario of inflating the number of people said to be living there.
While the number provided by Algeria and the Polisario is around 155,000 people, a number of organizations estimate the actual number not to exceed 90,000 people.
A report released last February by the European Union Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) showed that humanitarian aid extended by the EU between 2003 and 2007 ended up in the black markets”in Algeria, Mauritania, and Mali.
According to the 250-page report, fraud was made possible by the overestimation of the population in the Tindouf camps. The UNHCR does not have an updated census of these populations due to the “Polisario’s refusal for the last 39 years to allow a census.”
The OLAF report harshly criticized Algeria and the Polisario for embezzling humanitarian aid for decades to the detriment of the Saharawis living in the Tindouf camps.
The report noted that the systematic embezzlement occurs in the Algerian port of Oran where a large portion of the humanitarian aid is diverted away from the intended beneficiaries in the camps.
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