Algiers, February 19, 2012 (SPS) - Two American journalists, who have just returned from a visit to the Saharawi refugee camps, deplored Sunday in Algiers the extremely difficult conditions experienced by the Saharawis in these camps.
“The Saharawis live in extremely difficult conditions. Once back in the U.S., I will go through my articles to educate the American public on the Saharawi question in order to take measures in favor of this brave and hospitable people,” said the Journalist Edwin Mora, CNN correspondent in the U.S. Congress.
He recalled to the request made by U.S. Congress to State Department to ensure the respect for human rights in Western Sahara as a prerequisite to the granting of any military assistance to Morocco.
Doug Bandow, a journalist and analyst at the CATO Institute specializing in foreign policy, also deplored to the very difficult conditions in which the Saharawis live in the refugee camps.
“It is hard to imagine that people could live in such conditions for long years,” he said, noting, however, to the “strong moral” shown by this people and its commitment to independence.
From his part, the President of the Algerian Committee of Solidarity with the Saharawi people (CNASPS), Mr. Mahrez Lamari, who received the delegation at the headquarters of the committee, stressed on the importance of such visits to shed light on the suffering of the Saharawi people and broking the wall of silence and media blackout surrounding the Saharawi question.
“These two journalists, visiting for the first time the Saharawi refugee camps, were able to see firsthand what these people endure because of the Moroccan colonialism and also because of the lack of implementation of relevant UN resolutions guaranteeing the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination through a free and fair referendum,” he underlined.
The journalists visited on February 15 to 18, 2012 the Saharawi refugee camps, where they visited some social and cultural facilities in the Camps and held meetings with a number of the Saharawi officials. (SPS)
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