The Polisario-run Tindouf refugee camps, placed under the tutelage of Algerian authorities, are a high risk area for foreign visitors, the Japanese intelligence services have warned.
In its 2015 report on the fight against terrorism, entitled “Kokusai Terrorismu Youran 2015”, the Japanese Intelligence Agency “Kōanchōsa-chō”, one of the most efficient and most credible agencies in the world, has ranked the Algerian region of Tindouf as “a very high risk area.” Tindouf hosts the Sahrawi refugee camps and the headquarters of the Algeria-backed Polisario separatist Front.
The Japanese agency recalls that this region has already been the scene of numerous kidnappings of foreign tourists who ventured in the Algerian Sahara zone.
In its report, the agency “Kōanchōsa-chō” mentioned the existence of documented links between Polisario leaders and numerous armed groups linked to al Qaeda terrorist network, including among others, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and other armed terrorist movements that operate on the Algerian territory and in the Sahel-Sahara region, particularly in northern Mali.
The presence of these armed groups that Japanese intelligence services have been monitoring since 2011 has been exacerbated recently by the appearance of armed groups claiming allegiance to the terrorist Islamic State group, based in Iraq and Syria, and by the rise of the terrorist threat worldwide.
Information published by the Japanese governmental agency “Kōanchōsa-chō” which is under the tutelage of the Ministry of Justice, have been confirmed by the recent deadly attacks in Algeria.
The agency which is responsible for Japan’s national security at home and abroad warns against the actions of some Polisario leaders and militias that have split from the Polisario to join the Malian front.
What makes the situation even more serious is that the Sahrawi separatist front is manipulated by the Algerian regime which seeks to harm the stability, security and territorial integrity of its immediate neighbors, primarily Morocco, in its vain attempts to impose its leadership in this region of the African continent and the Arab world.
