In a statement sent Monday to MAP, ATSME welcomes the final report of the investigation conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office, noting that it confirms enrichment of Polisario officials through the embezzlement of aid allocated by international community to the Sahrawi populations in Tindouf camps.

The report "highlights clearly and irrefutably the responsibility of the Algerian authorities and Polisario mercenaries in massive and systematic embezzlement of assistance funded by the European Community, and therefore by European taxpayers to support the Sahrawi populations held in the camps, said spokesman for the ATSME Lahcen Mahraoui.

He also notes that the report detailed the practices of this embezzlement, its extent and the people who are responsible.

For him, one of the practices mentioned in this report, which are responsible for the Algerian authorities, is the overestimation of the number of Sahrawis retained in Tindouf camps, whose Census is refused systematically, to the international community despite the formal requests by the High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations in 1977, 2003 and 2005.

Mr. Lahcen Mahraoui who is an academic and  member of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), explains that, as noted in the report, the figures sent to UN agencies by the Algerian government shifted from 165,000 in 1975, 155,000 in 2000 and 158,000 in 2004, while during this time, Polisario states, meanwhile, the figure of 200,000.

"Alas, facing systematic census refusal by Algeria, it is the figure set by the country that is taken by European Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO)," says Mahraoui, recalling that European Commission has always funded assistance to 155,000 people since 1975 until 2004, when a scientific study funded by the European anti-fraud Office carried out by the Joint Research Centre ISPRA demonstrated that the population in the Tindouf camps did not exceed 90,000 people, a figure taken since September 2005 by UNHCR, the World Food Programme and the European Commission to determine how to help the population of these camps, although this figure may be contested by the Algerian authorities.

"Deceived for years, European taxpayers are not entitled to claim financial compensation from the Algerian authorities? asks ATSME spokesperson, noting that this study has highlighted the practices fraud practiced by the Algerian authorities and Polisario officials.

He explained that not only the labor that loaded and unloaded international aid was paid expensively but also construction sites financed by international organizations, while in reality the works was free since done by Moroccan, military and civilian prisoners, working by force under threat.

" ATSME vigorously denounces these banditry practices by the Algerian authorities and Polisario officials who maintain under their control Saharawi prisoners. They are victims, they live in a hostile landlocked location subject to climatic and physical conditions atrocious, they despair, suffering from disease, undernutrition and operations conducted by unscrupulous leaders, "said the spokesman.

«Now that the figure established is 90,000, will Algeria allow the identification of this population? How many true Sahrawis remain in the camps if we remove Algerian Sahrawis in Tindouf Algerian Saharan regions, those from Mauritania and those from Malian and Nigerian origins? "asks Mr. Mahraoui, noting that in view of what has been said in this report, Polisario leaders could no longer claim to represent Sahrawis .

ATSME took this opportunity to call upon the international community, human rights defenders and international NGOs to put pressure on Algeria and Polisario to dismantle camps and so that people who live there can regain the freedom to return to their homeland.

- News and events on Western Sahara issue / Corcas -