The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Algeria has issued an urgent call for increased international support for the Polisario Front. «We need $100 million per year to provide adequate assistance to Sahrawi refugees», said Alistair Alan Boulton in an interview with an Algerian media outlet on Thursday, April 30. He expressed regret that this funding target has not yet been met. These remarks are likely to strengthen the Polisario Front's leadership, which consistently urges greater humanitarian aid for the Tindouf camps. Morocco, however, contests this narrative. In a letter to the UN Security Council dated Monday, April 28, Morocco's Permanent Representative to the UN, Omar Hilale, stated that «Algeria does not cooperate at all with United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners to ensure access to basic services for the population in the Tindouf camps». Hilale further stressed that «Algeria refuses to allow the High Commissioner for Refugees to conduct a census or register the population that has been held in the Tindouf camps for over 50 years, despite clear Security Council resolutions calling for this since 2011». «The absence of a census facilitates the diversion of humanitarian aid, prompting agencies and NGOs to reduce the volume of assistance they provide», Hilale said. It is worth recalling that during the most recent session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in March in Geneva, several international NGOs accused the Algerian government of «diverting aid» intended for the Sahrawi population in the Tindouf camps. All operations related to the reception, transportation, and distribution of humanitarian aid—carried out through Algerian ports—are exclusively managed by Algeria and the Polisario, with no involvement from the UNHCR on the ground in the camps.
