THE POLISARIO VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

THE POLISARIO'S VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

BY : MOULAY AHMED MAOUELAININ

The Polisario was created shortly before the decolonization of Western

Sahara in Zouerate

In Mauritania by Twenty one sahraouis the 28th of April 1973. But

since 1976 The secretary

General of the Polisario Mohammed Abdelaziz and a small group of other

Leaders control the

Tindouf Refugee camps. The polisario front is the product of another

era prior the collapse of

The Totalitarian System, although the world started to experience

changes, as from the last

Decade Of the last Century, Polisario remained apart from such changes

in the international

Political Behaviour. No free elections, no democracy, no plurality, no

freedom of speech and

Expression, no free opinion and most definitely no civil society.

All the politico-military movements similar to Polisario have

disappeared since the fall of

Berlin wall. Since Polisario operates in a non- democratic way, it has

suffered, as totalitarian

Organizations usually do, from repeated purges aimed at eliminating

potential competitors to

The leader of polisario Mohammed Abdelaziz, as well as to justify the

fact that polisario lives

On a continual war footing and severely restricts the movements of the

sahraoui refugees

Living in the Tindouf camps.

THE LACK OF DEMOCRATY AND VIOLATION

OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The lack of real democratic practices in the refugee camps in Tindouf

reflects undoubtedly The manner of arbitrary arrest were carried out,

according to "an independent committee of inquiry into allegations of

violations of human rights, crimes, abuses and various other

irregularities brought against the Polisario front" some victims were

brought to the polisario's administration complex at Rabouny, not far

from Tindouf, or to the offices of the polisario military security.

They were then transferred in secret to places of detention and

torture, mainly to Rachid prison, known within sahraoui refugees as

the black prison. Others were arrested at work, during their military

training, or in their camps.generaly speaking the victims of arbitrary

arrest were transferred to Rachid prison in early evening or at night,

hands tied behind the back, eyes blindfolded or the whole face hooded

to prevent recognition of their captors or the place they were being

taken, at this particular stage detainees were not informed of the

charges against them.

During the last three decades torture was used by the military

services of the polisario with the aim to forcing detainees to confess

to being agents to foreign countries, or involved in any forms of

conspiracy. According to the independent committee of inquiry into

violations of human rights by the polisario, it is in possession of a

detailed list of 43 people who died under torture, or as a direct

consequence of the ill-treatments suffered. This list needs to be

completed, and up dated as the figure seems to be higher than what it

is disclosed. A number of witnesses who fled to Morocco described the

phenomenon of "summary executions" without any legal procedures,

detainees who were spared from being executed, were not informed of

their conviction or any charges. They were in most cases subject to

forced labour, during the period of torture, prisoners could easily

experienced days without food.

Medical care is in practical terms inexistent.

THE DIVERSION OF HUMANITARIAN AID

Sahraoui refugees in the Tindouf camps depend on humanitarian aid

donated by numerous

UN organizations, in addition to international non-governmental

organizations. It is believed

And even proved that much of the humanitarian aid does not reach the

refugees, instead it is

In most cases sold on the black market in neighbouring countries by

the Polisario. In this

Respect the international community have called in numerous occasions

for the

Implementation of a census, and an audit system to make sure that the

management of the

Humanitarian aid is transparent. Both Algeria, and Polisario has

refused to allow independent

Oversight of its management of humanitarian assistance. Important

quantities of diverted

International humanitarian aid sent for refugees in Tindouf camps have

been found on the

Markets in Algeria, and Mauritania, but also in Mali and Niger, some

still in their original

Packaging. The sums recovered would be used to finance the front, and

also its leader's way

Of life, at the expense of sahraoui refugees. These diversions

according to the report of the

US Committee for refugees published in year 2000 "Humanitarian workers

have reported that

more than 30% of the children from 5 to 12 years old were underfed,

more than 70% of the

Children of less than 5 years old suffered from anaemia", in its 2001

report the committee

Announced "more than 15000 children are in need of shoes", and finally

in its 2003 report, its

Said "some donors in private, have asked for a control of the

distribution of food to

Make sure that the political and military leaders were not diverting

the aid"

HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECTS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

The polisario is severely accused of human rights abuses : the

detention, killing ,and the abuse treatment of Moroccan prisoners of

war from late 70's to 2006, other accusations are that a big number of

sahraouis are kept in the Tindouf camps against their will, and do not

enjoy freedom of expression. In a report published in 2003; Amnesty

International concluded that "freedom of expression, association, and

movement continued to be restricted in the camps controlled by the

polisario near Tindouf in south western Algeria".

The polisario remains a totalitarian military and political movement,

with single party system, from inside the Polisario reports are

talking about more than 6000 sahraoui children, and adolescents are

currently living in Cuba, in most of the cases against the will of

their parents, and under the pretext of schooling, some of them are

subject to obligatory military training.

A full and comprehensive report of an independent committee of

inquiry into allegations of violation human rights,

crimes ,abuses ,and various other irregularities brought against the

polisario front, was submitted to the special political and

decolonisation committee (fourth committee) of the United Nations on

the 4th of October 2006.This 40page documented report deals with the

following aspects: