In a statement on October 27, the PSC stressed the need for African countries to cooperate with the UN agency on refugee documentation to avoid political exploitation and embezzlement of humanitarian aid. Algeria has been inflating figures of the Tindouf camps population in attempt to use them as political pawns to serve the separatist thesis of its Polisario proxies. Algeria’s obstinacy to refuse a head-count of the population of the Polisario-run camps prompted the EU to reduce aid sent to these camps in a bid to curb humanitarian aid diversion. The decision was taken following a report by the EU anti-fraud office (OLAF) denouncing the embezzlement of humanitarian aid by the Polisario leadership and Algerian officials. Polisario defectors estimate the figure of the population in the camps at around 40,000 including many non-Sahrawis.
