UNHCR agrees to refugee camps census, a long established Moroccan claim
Morocco-UN, Politics, 10/7/2003

The United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR) has responded to a claim Morocco has been repeatedly calling for on the need to register refugees and conduct a census of refugee camps around the world, such as the Tindouf Camps (Southern Algeria) were Moroccans native of the Sahara (southern Morocco) are being held hostage by a the separatist movement Polisario.

The UNHCR executive Committee which held last week its annual meeting, finally recognized the importance of such a census "as an instrument of protection and a means to quantify and assess needs prior to any supply or distribution of humanitarian assistance" to the refugees.

The adoption of this conclusion is regarded by Morocco as a diplomatic success, given the tireless efforts of the Moroccan delegation to convince the committee of the importance of the system which will guarantee transparency in dealing with recipients of humanitarian aid. The Moroccan delegation cited as an example the embezzlement by the Polisario of the humanitarian aid sent to these people by international organizations and which often end up in the hands of these separatists who claim independence of the western Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco under a three-party agreement signed in 1975 by Spain, Morocco and Mauritania.

Addressing the UNHCR executive committee, Moroccan ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Omar Hilale, had indeed deplored the fact that "the populations in the Tindouf Camps, sequestrated there for more than a quarter of century, have not benefited from such an operation (of registration and census), which is fundamental to any mission of protection and of assistance."

Tens of thousands of Moroccans from these Saharan provinces are held against their will in these camps run by the Polisario with the support of Algeria.

Worried about the embezzlement by the Polisario of international humanitarian aid, the Moroccan delegation to the committee had proposed that all donations be addressed to a special fund to be managed only by the UNHCR and not by donor countries or organizations.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco calls UNHCR to investigate polisario aid embezzlement   (10/4/2003)
  Morocco decries UNHCR indifference to tragedy of Tindouf POWs   (10/3/2003)
  L'opinion: former military chief of MINURSO: unlikely to impose solution on Morocco   (10/2/2003)

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