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Refugee starvation could trigger new war over Western Sahara says Minister
Written by Peter Kenworthy on February 23, 2012.
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The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has given basic assistance to the “most vulnerable” Saharawi refugees in the Tindouf refugee camps since 1986 after the Algerian government had supported the refugees for 11 years. According to the WFP, “opportunities for self-reliance in the harsh, isolated desert environment where the [Tindouf refugee] camps are located are extremely limited, forcing the refugees to rely on international assistance for their survival. Malnutrition rates remain high, with acute malnutrition at a critical level of 18.2 percent, chronic malnutrition at 31.4 percent and underweight at 31.6 percent.”
But even this inadequate level of aid is being cut back, according to Hach Ahmed. “The UNHCR and the EU, who are the main donors, have only promised half of the aid they normally give. The economic crisis, especially in Southern Europe, has a very bad influence on the social and aid programmes.”
The Saharawis are becoming increasingly impatient with the UN, he says, and many are willing to break the ceasefire between Western Sahara’s liberation front, Polisario, and Morocco, which has been in place since 1991, and return to war.
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MY COMMENT (Willem Van Cotthem)
It remains astonishing that UNICEF, who started the project “Family gardens in the refugee camps of the Saharawis” in 2005, suddenly stopped this successful project after the terrorist attack on the UNO-building in Algiers in December 2007.
Between December 2005 and December 2007 more than 1200 family gardens have been constructed. Vegetables and fruit trees were massively produced and the Saharawis authorities’ hope to get every single family of refugees growing fresh food in the Sahara desert was increasing accordingly.
UNICEF, WFP, UNHCR and the EU were fully aware of the successes booked with local food production and welcomed the fresh greens as a valuable tool to alleviate hunger, malnutrition and deficiencies of vitamins and mineral elements. Their delegates visited the green gardens several times.
Whatever the reason is why UNICEF suddenly stopped its own garden project in the refugee camps and never since 2008 gave a signal that the project could once be reopened, it remains a real shame that such a remarkable initiative came to an end.
For the same reason I am now wondering why Peter KENWORTHY is not mentioning this UNICEF-project in the article mentioned above. If one is talking about Western Sahara refugee starvation, one should also be documented on a splendid initiative to avoid that starvation by local food production.
If according to WFP “opportunities for self-reliance in the harsh, isolated desert environment where the [Tindouf refugee] camps are located are extremely limited, forcing the refugees to rely on international assistance for their survival. Malnutrition rates remain high, with acute malnutrition at a critical level of 18.2 percent, chronic malnutrition at 31.4 percent and underweight at 31.6 percent.”, the same WFP knows, without any doubt, that UNICEF showed in 2006-2007 that self-reliance by producing of fresh vegetables and fruits by the refugees themselves is possible, even in the Sahara desert.
If nowadays the main donors UNHCR and the EU are cutting back by half their level of aid due to the economic crisis, time has come to compensate this by reopening the garden project and offer all the refugee families again a chance to produce the complementary quantity of food.
You think it’s impossible in the desert ? Well, have a close look at these photos. They show sufficiently that the official aid organizations should not remain silent any longer. The economic crisis is no excuse for refusing the refugees this chance.
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