Moroccan Sahara: a former Pentagon official demands the dismantling of the Tindouf camps

The former Defense Department official published an op-ed on Wednesday demanding that the UN and its refugee agency cease their operations in the Algerian province of Tindouf. Michael Rubin describes the Polisario Front as a "totalitarian movement" that holds the population hostage. He denounces a coercive system where Sahrawis wishing to visit their families in Laâyoune are forced to leave their children as collateral.

On Bladi.net: Morocco-Algeria: the behind-the-scenes of the American mediation to close the Sahara file

The researcher at the American Enterprise Institute denounces a humanitarian fraud supported by Algiers. According to his analysis, Algeria artificially inflates the population of the camps by claiming 173,000 residents, when the actual figure is around 40,000. Stating that half of these individuals are not refugees from Western Sahara, he accuses humanitarian actors of creating a "moral hazard" that artificially perpetuates the crisis.

This American position echoes recent calls from Rabat. Following the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2797, King Mohammed VI urged the camp residents to seize the opportunity of the Autonomy Initiative. The monarch publicly guaranteed that there was "no difference between those who return from the Tindouf camps and their brothers and sisters within the homeland".

On Bladi.net: Sahara: The UN rejects the "terrorist" label demanded by US lawmakers for the Polisario

Simultaneously, the pressure is intensifying within the US Congress. On March 13, three Republican senators, including Ted Cruz, introduced a bill requiring the State Department to assess the links between the Polisario and Iran. The goal is to study an official designation as a foreign terrorist organization, with Senator Cruz accusing Tehran of wanting to turn the separatist movement into the "Houthis of West Africa".