Media release – The signs point to war in the decades-long conflict between Morocco and the Sahrawi liberation movement Frente Polisario. Human rights activist Laila Fahkouri has been staying in the Sahrawi refugee camps in the Algerian desert since March. The situation is particularly grueling for young people, she reports terre des hommes schweiz. Condemned to do nothing, they are prone to taking up arms themselves.
“The young people are fed up with their people being ‘forgotten’,” says Sahrawi human rights activist Laila Fakhouri (26) on International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2020. The “forgotten” conflict over Western Sahara between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi liberation movement Frente Polisario escalated a few weeks ago. “After 29 years of stalemate, the young Saharawis in particular are running out of patience,” she says.
Ceasefire of 1991 terminated
On 13. November are Moroccan militarymembers into the UNO-Buffer zone invaded south of the occupied Western Sahara. Sahrawi Civilpeople had a Street blockedMorocco as a trade route to Mauritania serves. The UNO had years before already warned against building such a road is problematic for the ceasefire agreement between Morocco and thehe Frente Polisario. Dhe military intervention in this area is a break with the Agreement. The Polisario has thereupon the ceasefire and Morocco declared declared war.
The Western Sahara has been divided into two unequal parts for 45 years. Morocco holds two thirds of thethe Western Sahara along the fish-rich Atlantic coast under international law occupieda territory rich in natural resources with several larger Cities. The Polisario controls that Desert region of Western Sahara on the border with Algeria.
Two thirds in the refugee camps under the age of 25
Laila Fakhouriwho a year ago on the initiative of terre des hommes switzerland received the Weimar Human Rights Prize and explicitly and explicitly calls for peaceful protest against the Moroccan occupying power, has been in the Sahrawis since March of this year. Sahrawi refugee camps in the Algerian desert. Around 176,000 people are waiting there two thirds of them are young Saharawis under the age of 25.
“At the moment, everything revolves around the ‘war’“, reported them. Laila Fakhouri has Understanding of this, that “people have had enough“. For the Children, adolescents and young adults be the situation is particularly bad. “The young generation in the refugee camps is stuck in no man’s land. Doing nothing and not being able to work means to be useless to feel useless. Boy Saharawis need perspectives!” Young people who have a job are much less likely to take up arms, says the Human rights activist. Ultimately neede it “the political will the international community, to these untenable Change the situation“, so Laila Fakhouri.
Third generation in exile
“Many young Saharawis are suffering from the grueling situation,” confirms Sylvia Valentin, Western Sahara expert at terre des hommes schweiz. “They have been waiting 29 years for the referendum that was promised to them in the 1991 ceasefire,” she says. The third generation of young Saharawis are now living in the refugee camps with no prospect of an improvement in their situation, she says. “The situation is tense and there is great frustration at the lack of support from the international community and the inaction of the UN Security Council,” says Sylvia Valentin from terre des hommes schweiz.
terre des hommes schweiz supports the project and information work of a center for young people and their families in the Sahrawi refugee camp of Smara. The development organization is committed to the political and economic self-determination of the Saharawis and is the Swiss contact point for the international network WSRW (Western Sahara Resource Watch).
More information: https://terredeshommesschweiz.ch/laila-fakhouri
Information: Sylvia Valentin via the media office, anna.wegelin@terredeshommes.ch
