Tensions mount in Tindouf camps, as detainees rally against Polisario’s rampant corruption

Tensions are brewing in the Polisario’s camps in Algeria, as Sahrawis continue to witness the lawlessness, corruption and injustice perpetrated by the separatist movement’s kingpins.

A tribe within the camps, where freedom of movement is strictly forbidden, has risen up against the separatist front, in protest of rampant corruption.

The Labehat tribe’s insurrection led to the arrest of 11 people, while calls for accountability continue to rise.

The Forum for Supporting Autonomy Supporters (FORSATIN) reports that a group of young people called for an inclusive meeting of all Sahrawis in the Tindouf camps to discuss the Polisario’s corruption, which led to the arrests.

FORSATIN, which monitors the situation in the Tindouf camps in Algeria, reported that Polisario militias had surrounded the El-Ayoun state camp and deployed security reinforcements in the rest of the camps.

The forum shared a picture of a young Sahrawi detained in the Tindouf camps, who was subjected to violence at the hands of the Front’s militias, subjected to beatings and abuse on his return home.

The same source stated that the relatives of the victim in question attacked Polisario forces by throwing  stones, leading to the separatists’ crackdown on detained camp residents.

The Sahrawis will reportedly maintain the controversial meeting despite the risks, reports the forum, adding that the Front’s militias are still trying to sabotage the gathering, by extensive presence at the hall and obstructing the arrival of groups from other camps.

This week, the Polisario’s decisions about permits to leave and enter its camp has caused widespread uproar, after a group of individuals intercepted fuel tankers on the Algerian-Sahrawi border carrying an estimated 40 tons of fuel.

According to Sahrawi media, the Polisario Front, working with Algerian customs, had entirely stopped the export of petroleum at the one crossing that permitted the Sahrawis to use it to travel to northern Mauritania.

The restrictions do not, however, apply to everyone, as organizations and individuals continue to engage in this lucrative activity in total comfort, even with the direct encouragement of senior leaders and a sophisticated web of connections that extends to officers in the internal security in Tindouf and the Mustapha Ben Boulaid crossing, explained the same media.

With fuel coming from the camp is the main source of energy for Zouerate and a few other cities in Mali, sahrawis detained in the camps have seen their patience run thin, as the Polisario’s highest ranking so called “officials”  continue to profit off international aid, and are no strangers to corrupt practices aimed at personal enrichment, while the detainees suffer in horrible living conditions.