Shaheed El Hafed, October 22, 2016 (SPS) The Saharawi Red Crescent (SRC) expressed "profound" concern about the reduction of the basic food basket for the Saharawi refugees as result of the delay of the Spanish government’s contribution for 2016.
"We are concerned about the decline in the food basket of the Sahrawi refugees since the beginning of this month, causing a 50% reduction in the monthly quota for the month of November," said a statement of the Saharawi Red Crescent.
"The main cause of this tragic situation is the delay of the contribution from the Spanish government in 2016," the source added.
SRC has launched an "urgent" appeal to the Spanish government to release its contribution to the world food program to avoid catastrophic situation of the Sahrawi refugees, who has been depending for more than 40 years on international humanitarian aid due to the illegal occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco.
Several UN agencies including the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), 24 countries, representatives of over 18 organizations working in the Saharawi refugee camps and SRC, held last September in Algiers a meeting to assess the needs of the Sahrawi refugees living in extremely difficult conditions, issued a joint statement of appeal to donors to increase their aid.
UN aid agencies have estimated that the Saharawi refugee camps need 135 million dollars of humanitarian aid for 2016 and 2017. (SPS)
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