Desert refugees need food

2006-02-05 21:23

Algiers - An aid agency launched an urgent call on Sunday for food and medical supplies for tens of thousands of refugees from Western Sahara living in camps in the desert in southwestern Algeria, the Algerian APS news agency said.

The Sahrawi Red Cross (SRC) appealed to governments, international organisations and the world at large to help with food aid, saying that stocks would "run out in March".

The SRC "has been using its reserve stocks of basic products since January 2006 to meet the urgent needs of 158 000 Sahrawi refugees", the APS said.

The organisation said it was also out of medical supplies, warning of a "deterioration in the health of Sahrawi refugees, which is already precarious".

The refugees live in camps near Tindouf, close to Algeria's border with Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1975 after Spain gave up its rule of the phosphate-rich region.

The Polisario Front, which fought a lengthy guerrilla war against Rabat's forces before a ceasefire in 1991, is demanding sovereignty for Western Sahara.

UN-led attempts to resolve the future of the territory are deadlocked, with the Polisario Front rejecting Morocco's offer of extensive autonomy.

- AFP