The Polisario has tightened the security measures imposed on the Tindouf camps, particularly against the supporters of the Moroccan autonomy proposal for Western Sahara who were cheered up by Washington’s renewed support to this plan.
According to an informed source in Tindouf, the White House statement supporting the autonomy plan that Washington has described as “serious and credible” was welcomed by the thousands of Sahrawis in the Algeria-based Tindouf camps. In contrast, the confirmation of the U.S. administration’s stand has sown fear and disarray among the Polisario as well as among the Algerian leaders. This fear resulted in imposing unprecedented restrictions against the Polisario’s opponents in Tindouf.
Checks conducted by the Polisario militia became more stringent and the prohibition of movement between the camps has been extended. The orders of senior officers of the Algerian military intelligence services, who have the upper hand in the Tindouf camps, are very strict. Only members of the Polisario leadership and loyal supporters of the separatist Front are allowed to move freely outside the camps.
These additional security measures make life for the Sahrawi refugees more difficult than before, according to the same source which explains that the new moves translate the Polisario’s disarray.
The panic of the Polisario and Algerian leaders is all the greater that they are realizing that their project to establish a Sahrawi republic is increasingly going into oblivion. In addition to the contempt that major international capitals grant to the project hatched by the Algerian generals, increasing numbers of the Polisario’s former friends are withdrawing their recognition of the whimsical Sahrawi Republic.
The latest withdrawal was made by Panama whose Foreign Minister justified the decision by the Panamanian government’s will to repair the “mistake” committed more than thirty years ago by a “military dictatorship that did not have any legitimacy.”
Polisario Tightens Security Measures in Tindouf Camps
