"We are concerned because there's very little monitoring of what's going on there", said Ricky Goldstein, HRW Middle-East and North Africa director.

   People living in these "very isolated" camps do not have "really much room to express political dissent from the mainstream Polisario views", said the activist, who was guest at the "Africa Today" program aired by the Iranian TV channel "Press TV", monitored in London.

   Ali Bahaijoub, director of "North-South" magazine, said the recovery by Morocco of its southern provinces was consecrated by the tripartite accord concluded in the mid-70s between Morocco, Mauritania and Spain as the former colonial power.

   The accord was registered with the United Nations in accordance with the charter of the world body and endorsed by the Jamaa (Assembly of Sahrawi tribes), he said, adding that the UN came to the conclusion that the referendum was inapplicable in view of the nomadic nature of the local populations.

   All members of the Arab League, including Algeria, expressed in 1974 full support to Morocco's legitimate right to recover its southern provinces, he added.

   He further stressed that Sahara issue “is actually a problem between Morocco and Algeria” and that this political problem has to be solved between Rabat and Algiers.

   Algeria, which hosts the Polisario on its territory, grants the group military, financial and diplomatic backing, he argued.

   “The Sahara has never been an entity”, he noted, before wondering why Algeria refuses to conduct a census of the population kept in the camps.

   In this connection, the journalist decried the siege imposed on this population in a military zone, to which nobody can have access without a permission of the Algerian army.

Source: MAP
News and events concerning Western Sahara issue/ Corcas