Over US$ 96 million end in Polisario leaders' pockets

The Polisario separatists movement, which is claiming secession of Morocco's southern provinces, receives an annual financial support worth over US$ 96 million, which "ends in its leaders' pockets," reported on Sunday the Moroccan daily in Arabic Al Ahdath Al Maghribiya.

The humanitarian aid, initially sent to the sequestered populations in the Tindouf camps (in an allusion to the tens of thousands of Sahara natives held against their will by the separatist movement in southwestern Algeria) end up in the hands of Algeria-backed Polisario leaders "who amassed huge fortunes," the paper said, quoting well-informed sources.

The publication recalled how several humanitarian organizations ceased to grant Polisario their support "after they realized the aid was embezzled by the leaders, who sell it in the Algerian black market. This gave birth to an important arms trafficking web in the region," the daily added.

According to the newspaper, the 96 million dollars represent only the value of some states' official aid. "Polisario leaders also receive millions of Dirhams from some 60 associations in Spain, Italy, Belgium, South Africa, Japan, Australia and several autonomous governments.

It recalled the decision by the French NGO "France Libertes," chaired by Danielle Mitterand, spouse of former French President, to suspend its aid to the separatists after the investigation conducted April 11-25, 2003, in the camps unveiled the inhuman conditions where the sequestered live, and showed the aid ends up in neighboring countries' black markets.