An African rights group warned the UN Human Rights Council that young people in the Algeria-hosted Tindouf camps were being recruited by armed and terrorist groups operating across the Sahara and Sahel.
Fadel Breika, speaking for the African Network for Development, Governance and Human Rights during the council’s 63rd session, accused the Polisario leadership of turning the camps into a recruitment pool for mercenaries.
He said hundreds of young people had been recruited and sent to armed groups operating in the region, with some later involved in conflicts in Libya and Syria. The claims were not independently verified.
Breika also alleged links between recruits from the camps and transnational extremist organizations, including Al-Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates.
He cited Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, the former leader of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, as an example.
The network called on Algeria, as host country of the camps, to act against recruitment and prevent their use in regional conflicts.
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