Catalan mission in Western Sahara highlights need to provide basic assistance to refugees

The Catalan mission in the Saharawi camps of Tindouf, in Algeria, has called for the prioritization of basic assistance to the refugee population in the area.

For the past three days, representatives from the Catalan Cooperation Fund and cross-party MPs have traveled to Western Sahara to listen to the requests and needs of the local officials and political leaders of the Polisario Front.

During the trip, the Catalan mission met with officials from the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic government, organizations in defense of the victims and those who have disappeared in the conflict, as well as different infrastructures such as the national hospital. 

The territory was once a Spanish colony, and upon decolonization in 1975, the authorities leaving allowed Morocco and Mauritania to occupy it, prompting the Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement Polisario Front to react, but failed to gain fully recognized independence.

For decades it is a frozen conflict, with UN saying Sahrawis have the right to self-determination – Spain remained neutral for decades until its government sided with Morocco in 2022.

The Catalan delegation also underlined the importance of bringing the world's attention back to the conflict and the necessity to hold a self-determination referendum in the area. 

Basic assistance

Human rights was top of the agenda for the Catalan mission. David Minoves, director of the Catalan Development Cooperation Fund, made a plea for the "130,000 people who have urgent needs and who live in an unsustainable situation in refugee camps for more than 48 years" when speaking to the Catalan News Agency from the site. Minoves added that the situation "should have been resolved 32 years ago with a referendum that did not take place."

The officials say that the situation of the Sahrawi refugees needs to be put back on the political agenda of councils once the municipal elections are ove –, which are due to take place in May – as well as the government once the Master Plan for Cooperation in the Development of the Sahara is approved.

"These are camps for refugees who have no other option than to live here until the political situation is resolved," the director of the Fund added.

The refugees lived for a long time in fabric tents in camps on land ceded by Algeria, and little by little some solid structures have been built, which can stop some of the heat and sand of the desert. 

"We came with the idea of working in healthcare generally, but perhaps we have to step back and do more assistance tasks that have been asked of us," the president of the Catalan Coordinator of Councils in Solidarity with the Sahrawi People, Gemma Aristoy, said. 

She also admits that it is necessary to rethink the concept of twinning towns that is in place currently. 

Minoves also says that as Catalonia is relatively wealthy, it should be possible to increase aid and funds for cooperation with Western Sahara. "It must be a priority, with direct agreements with the administration of the refugee camps," he said.

Deaths and disappearances

The armed conflict in Western Sahara has seen thousands of casualties so far.

The refugee community in the Tindouf camps has a census of nearly 500 people missing, most of whom they believe may have died.

In addition, they denounce that the Moroccan army has placed mines in parts of the land causing 2,000 injuries and around 400 deaths.

For all of this, the refugees demand that the affected areas be marked or monitored to prevent further deaths and harm, and they call on the international community to intervene and defend the rights of the refugees there.