Morocco joins EU aid monitoring mechanism
Morocco has joined an EU mechanism to monitor humanitarian aid sent to Tindouf camps in Algeria, as reported by the Moroccan government-friendly North Africa Post and agencies on February 2nd.
The EU-Morocco agreement was published on January 28th and gives Rabat a formal role in scrutinising the use of EU funds and food aid being sent to the camps, which house Sahrawi refugees from the disputed Western Sahara territory.
Concerns about the influence of the Algerian-backed, Iranian-funded Polisario Front, a separatist militia which runs the camps, are cited as a primary reason for this scrutiny, as European oversight bodies have documented systematic abuses and dire conditions.
Similarly, the Polisario Front has been accused of blocking efforts to determine the exact number of refugees in the camps, with the militia allegedly inflating camp numbers to secure larger aid allocations, along with the reselling of donated supplies in Algerian and Mauritanian markets.
Due to the desert climate of the camps, inhabitants are heavily reliant on international aid for basic resources, such as food. An estimated 174,000 Sahrawi refugees reside in the camps, where they face repression and human rights violations from Algerian authorities.
Concerns about the influence of Iran on separatist groups in the region have also been expressed, with allegations that the Tindouf camps are being used to smuggle weapons to militant organisations operating in the area.
Algeria’s seemingly unwavering support for the Polisario Front has contributed to its growing diplomatic isolation, especially given its rejection of the Moroccan Autonomy Plan as a resolution to the long-standing Western Sahara dispute, which has persisted since Spain’s colonial rule ended in 1975.
Under the plan, or Resolution 2797, the Western Sahara would be granted limited self-governance under Moroccan sovereignty; the plan received widespread support at a UN Security Council vote on October 31st, 2025.
The Polisario Front claims to fight for self-determination for the Sahrawi people, whose ancestral homeland is the Western Sahara, through armed struggle against the so-called “Moroccan occupier.”
Furthermore, the Polisario Front has recognised the so-called Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) since 1976, but the EU has repeatedly affirmed its non-recognition of the territory; the majority of EU states back Moroccan sovereignty.
North Africa Post and agencies, Maghrebi.org
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