Thousands Flee Tindouf Refugee Camps in Mass Exodus to Northern Mauritania

Several lines of cars in motion, from the Tindouf camps to an unknown destination, have been spotted, according to Mauritanian media. It is about 1,500 cars of Sahrawis who were planning to head towards the north of Mauritania. They should join the wilaya of Dakhlet Nouadhibou after passing through the wilayas of Tiris Zemmour and Adrar. However, the elements of the Polisario made believe that these Sahrawis were authorized to join the "occupied territories".

As part of the measures against the spread of covid-19, the Mauritanian authorities have banned the entry of refugees. Thus, two families intercepted on the outskirts of the town of Bir Oum Grein were turned back into the buffer zone by the officials of the town of Zouerate. Two women accompanied by their children, who were trying to enter the town of Zouerate, suffered the same fate.

These massive displacements of Sahrawis coincide with the creation of an opposition movement against the Polisario. This is the "Sahrawi Movement for Peace (MSP)", composed of about a hundred executives, officers, former senior Polisario officials, students and human rights activists. The movement in question does not speak the same language as the Polisario, specifies the daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.

The MSP in a statement, indicated that representatives of Sahrawi society from the interior and exterior, as well as inhabitants of the Tindouf camps and members of the "Sahrawi Initiative for Change", are members of the movement. Faced with the threat posed by the MSP, a manhunt is organized against all those who support this movement under the direction of the Polisario, reports the same source. And to escape persecution, many Sahrawis are deserting the Tindouf camps.