The embezzlement of international humanitarian aid donated to the Tindouf camp population is no longer a mystery. One of the Polisario clans has denounced lately the greed of its rivals which have benefited most from the proceeds of this organized thefts and booty.
A video launched by a website close to a clan of the separatist front, supported by Algeria, shows how humanitarian aid, originally intended for a population living in lamentable conditions, is the subject of a clan war within the Polisario.
Filmed on September 28, the video shows a woman in the camps in Tindouf denouncing the resale of tents bearing UNHCR logo to their designated recipients.
It is not the first time that this widespread rapine made by some notables of the Polisario to the detriment of a desperate population, is exposed. In February 2015, a report by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) unveiled the massive and systematic embezzlement of international humanitarian aid destined for the Tindouf camps.
After a lengthy and thorough investigation, OLAF showed how the misappropriation unfolds as soon as humanitarian aid arrives at the Algerian port of Oran. From there, a ring of Algerian officials and Polisario dignitaries determine the destination of the cargo. “An important part of the humanitarian aid (…) has been embezzled systematically for years,” concluded the European anti-fraud office in its report.
Indeed, several items of the international aid were found in the markets for sale in Algerian cities, or even in Mauritania and Mali. It is for the revenues earned from this illegal trade that rival clans of the Polisario are clashing, not hesitating to leak videos from inside the camps, despite being locked down by the separatist solders, under the supervision of their Algerian masters.
