The Tindouf camps in southwestern Algeria are a “hotbed of tension and a ticking time bomb” that threatens security in the region, petitioner Mohamed Elaissaoui told the Committee of 24 (C24) of the ‘UN.
Speaking at the C24 annual meeting on Tuesday, he noted that experts, European parliamentarians and members of the American Congress have warned that these camps have become “fertile ground” for the recruitment of fighters into the ranks of the group. jihadist “Islamic State in the Greater Sahara” (EIGS) and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, with a view to carrying out terrorist attacks against civilians, the security forces of the countries of the region and the UN peacekeeping missions the peace.
In this context, he stressed that the involvement of the “polisario” militia in terrorist acts and its association with armed terrorist groups in the Sahel region have been proven, recalling the case of Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahraoui , leader of the EIGS group and mercenary of the “polisario” who was included in the list of sanctions established by the Security Council under resolutions 1267, 1989 and 2253 concerning Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
In front of the members of the C24, Elaissaoui indicated that Abou al-Walid grew up in the Tindouf camps, in the arms of the “polisario” and benefited from the support of the armed separatist militia before his death during an international security operation in 2021.
He further indicated that in the face of the rampant insecurity and the alarming social conditions in the Tindouf camps aggravated by the systematic repression exercised by the armed movement the “polisario” and the host country, sit-ins were organized to protest against the leadership of the separatist militia and its arbitrary decisions against the inhabitants of the camps.
The protesters also denounced the diversion of humanitarian aid before they were subjected to repression, kidnapping and torture at the hands of the “polisario”, in flagrant violation of human rights and with complicit and culpable silence. of the host country, said the petitioner.
In this regard, he called on the international community, in particular the Security Council, to act urgently to bring the host country to assume its legal and political responsibility and to hold accountable all those whose involvement in terrorism and the human rights violations in the Tindouf camps has been proven.
And to conclude that the autonomy plan, which enjoys the support of more than 100 UN member states, remains the one and only solution to definitively settle the regional dispute over the Sahara within the framework of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom.