In a statement to MAP Ould Akmach, who expressed his loyalty to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, stressed on this occasion that Morocco’s autonomy plan in the southern provinces is "the best solution to solve the Sahara issue, since this solution is supported by the majority of Sahrawis in Tindouf camps who cannot express their choice solemnly because of the oppression and the lack of freedom of speech maintained by the Polisario and Algeria."

The polisario's former official added that "it is the right of the Sahrawis, wherever they are, to finally enjoy peace and security and be able to return home.”

Ould Akmach, who is native of the tribe of Laaroussyines Oulad Lakhlifia Oulad Sidi Eddakak, called on the United Nations and all its bodies (Security Council, General Assembly, 4th Committee, Human Rights Committee, Human Right Council) to “strive to lift the siege imposed on our families in Tindouf camps and allow them to freely express their opinions away from the repression and oppression exercised by the leaders of the Polisario and Algeria.”

"The Polisario and Algeria are misleading, for years, the international community and all humanitarian organizations on the number of refugees in the Tindouf camps, which does not exceed 45,000 people,” said Ould Akmach, noting that “Algeria and the Polisario, who know perfectly this figure and submit to the UN exaggerated data (160,000), are aware that once the UNHCR makes an accurate census of the population of Tindouf camps, the trickery will be revealed in broad daylight”.

He called upon the UN to pressure Algeria into allowing the UNHRC to conduct, as soon as possible, a headcount of the camps’ populations.

He added that the impressive number of 2000 people, who have joined Morocco since the beginning of the year, including youngsters and influential figures, speaks for the credibility of the Moroccan stand.

Born in 1954 in Tichla (southern Dakhla), Ould Akmach did his studies on nursing in 1970-1973 and was employed by the Spanish postal and telecommunications establishment, located at the time in Dakhla, before joining the polisario front in Tindouf, south of Algeria, where he was appointed an itinerant male nurse at the armed wing.

After the 1991 cease-fire by the UN, Ould Akmach was appointed director of the health center of the camp called “Wilaya Dakhla”, 160 km south of the city of Tindouf, where he was in charge of administering health care for POWs.

When the process of identification was launched to draw up the lists of Sahrawis authorized to participate in the referendum, he was named by the UN, through the MINURSO, Sheikh of identification for the Laaroussyine tribe: Oulad Lakhlifia fraction and Oulad Sidi Eddakak sub-fraction. In this capacity, he took part in the identification operation in the cities of Dakhla, Boujdour, Laayun, Guelmim, Marrakesh and Casablanca, as well as in Nouadhibou in Mauritania, simultaneously with his mission of Sheikh of identification in the camps of Tindouf.

In 2008, following the 12th congress of the polisario front (December 14-20, 2007), he was elected member of the so-called “Sahrawi national council” and remained in office until his return to the homeland, the Kingdom of Morocco.

Source: MAP
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