Brussels (Belgium), January 25, 2015 (SPS) - European Anti-Fraud Office (EAFO)'s report about EU humanitarian aid to Sahrawi refugees, dating from 2007, was "exhumed" from their archives with the aim of "misleading and distracting" Europe, Mohamed Sidati, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)'s deputy minister for Europe, said Saturday in a statement.
The "exhumation" of the report "amounts simply to a manipulative and ill-informed attempt to taint the image of the Polisario Front and the Sahrawi refugees," the statement underlined.
"Despite the claims in the eight-year old report, it is widely noted that the Sahrawi refugee camps are some of the best organized in the world. Within the camps, monitoring is carried out by UNHCR, ECHO and WPF, whilst there are many NGOs present."
"The Polisario Front and the Sahrawi authorities, contrary to articles cooked up in the offices of Morocco and their agents, are cooperative, transparent and open to international observers," the statement stressed, noting that "although it is below their needs, the aid is greatly appreciated by the Sahrawi refugees."
"There exists between the donors and the Sahrawi Red Crescent a reciprocal trust and productive cooperation. The aid benefits Sahrawi refugees in a transparent and positive way, which is attested to daily by international organisations present" in the camps.
The statement stressed that the report's timing of publishing, eight years after it was written, "has the aim simply of untruthfully tainting the image of the Polisario front and the Sahrawi refugees at a time when Western Sahara conflict is on the agenda of the United Nations and the human rights violations by Morocco are being discussed in the European Parliament and elsewhere."
"It is clear that Morocco, with its strategy of diversion and manipulation, is trying to destabilise and deprive the Sahrawi people by blocking further aid and putting pressure on donors, notably the EU," the statement concluded. (SPS)
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