Bir Lehlou (liberated territories), Oct 31, 2011 (SPS) - A Source of the Saharawi governments categorically refuted Monday the news published by French Press Agency (AFP) claiming “the existence of an armed branch of Al-Qaeda in the Saharawi refugee camps helped to kidnap the European cooperators.”
The source affirmed to SPS that the “Saharawi government refutes the existence of Al-Qaeda in the Saharawi refugee camps,” highlighting that “a group of terrorist attacked and fired on three aid workers and Saharawi security agents at reception centre, wounding one of the hostages and Saharawi guard.”
“Contrary to the lies and fallacies spread by AFP in Bamako, the terrorists used weapons and force to cover the operation and flee,” he noted.
“Government of the Saharawi Republic and Polisario Front categorically deny such baseless allegations, which AFP Office in Mali tries to spread in order to surround the kidnapping incident with confusion and ambiguity,” he added.
The source lamented on the real reasons that made AFP’s office in Mali spread falsifying information without revealing the identity of the alleged information source, in an attempt to tarnish the reputation and credibility of the Polisario Front and to link the liberation struggle of the Saharawi people with terrorism and organized crime.
He recalled that AFP office in Bamako has been publishing tens of fabricated cables since four years and this time unknown mediator claims “the kidnappers have benefited from weapons assistance by Al-Qaeda supporters in the Saharawi refugee camps, while two men wearing the Saharawi military uniform let the vehicles carrying the hostages flee.”
The Saharawi source recalled that the terrorist group was well armed and has returned from where it came, adding that the place of Saharawi refugee camps, which visited by huge numbers of cooperators and sympathizers, are “clearly known all since 1976.”
“The Saharawi government and Polisario Front strongly condemn the intentional manipulation and distortion of facts in order to spread lies and serious accusations to achieve political goals,” the same source concluded. (SPS)
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