In its 2008 annual report, USCRI, an American NGO based in Washington, said that six former Sahrawi inmates have testified before the Belgian parliament that Polisario had forced them to undergo military training in Tindouf before being shipped to Cuba.

"The Polisario has banned several people returning to the region of the Moroccan Sahara," says the NGO, adding that residents have expressed their intention to return and some of them have managed to reach Morocco through Mauritania.

Concerning the conditions of children and women in these camps, USCRI precises, quoting the World Food Programme (WFP), that "some 39 pc of children under five years in the Tindouf camps suffer from acute or chronic malnutrition and that two thirds of women are anaemic. "

In its report, the NGO also indicates that "the Algerian government refuses to allow the UNHCR a population census for humanitarian purposes and for purposes of protection or surveillance."  

"A joint UNHCR and WFP has recommended greater transparency in the distribution of humanitarian aid", said the USCRI, mentioning in this regard the testimony of the Interfaith International Association, which said that "the Polisario diverted and sold humanitarian aid in other countries and spent huge sums of money for festivals and military parades. " 

Source: MAP
-News Western Sahara issue/ Corcas-