UNHRC report questions Algerian number of Tindouf camps populations

For the first time ever, the 2004 Global Report of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) distanced itself from the Algeria-established number of the population living in the Polisario-controlled Tindouf camps, southwest Algeria.

Algeria, which backs the "Polisario" movement that claims the separation of the southern provinces of Morocco (the Sahara), has been saying, for decades, the number of this population is 165,000.

Morocco declared, on March 9, 2005, before the 32nd session of the UNHRC Permanent Committee, that the true number of the populations in the Tindouf camps is actually less than half the numbers established by Algeria and used by the UNHRC.

The 2004 Global Report, published last Tuesday in Geneva, admitted that there is "a growing concern regarding the precise number of refugees in the camps," affirming that demarches towards a comprehensive re-registration of these persons will be pursued in 2005.

The 7th edition of the global report describes the new facts, and the problems the UNHRC encounters in accomplishing its task of finding a sustainable solution to these refugees.

The report also speaks of the confidence building measures, acknowledging, also for the first time, that "these measures were not intended to be linked to any political option that could resolve the Saharan conflict; rather, they were designed to meet the humanitarian needs of two populations who had already suffered the effects of prolonged separation."

Besides the thousands of Moroccan sahrawis sequestered in the Tindouf camps, the "Polisario" also jails some 408 Moroccans citizens in flagrant violation of the international law and of the repeated calls of the international community to release them.