A Western Sahara refugee camp

The Western Sahara is a desert region lying between Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania. This region is the homeland of the Saharawi, who are a mix of Arab and Berber people. There are about 220,000 Saharawi and more than half live in refugee camps.

In 1975 the Moroccan army invaded and occupied territory within the Western Sahara, and most Saharawi civilians fled east into Algeria. Since then, a huge complex of Saharawi refugee camps has grown up around Tinduf in western Algeria, near the border with Morocco. These camps are home to more than 160,000 people, mainly women and children. Most people under the age of 24 have never lived anywhere else but in the camps, which are located in one of the world’s harshest natural environments.

Since 1975 The Saharawis’ armed struggle against Morocco has been waged by the military wing of the Polisario, an organisation originally formed to fight an earlier occupation of the territory by Spain. Morocco keeps a heavy military presence in the Western Sahara, and has raised a vast barrier of sand, called the" berm", and hundreds of miles of high barbed-wire fencing, to block attacks by Polisario guerrillas. Today the Polisario are also the official political representatives of the Saharawi people. The camps are run democratically, using a system of discussion and decision-making based on Saharawi tribal tradition. Priority is given to health care, education, and equal opportunities for men and women.

Daily life in the refugee camp

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Photo by J C Tordai/Panos