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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is preparing to close its office in Laayoune, a well-informed source told Yabiladi. «Contracts expiring in September will not be renewed. This decision affects the staff involved in the confidence-building program launched by the UN nearly twenty years ago», the same source explained.
This program had allowed thousands of Sahrawis, whether living in the Sahara or in the Tindouf camps, to visit their families. In 2013, the Polisario announced its unilateral withdrawal from the program, citing «technical reasons» at the time. The UN made two attempts, in 2016 and 2019, to resume family visits between the two sides, but both efforts failed.
The closure of the UNHCR office in Laayoune comes two weeks after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a «rethink» of peacekeeping operations to better align them with budgetary constraints. UN staff in the Sahara have not been spared from these measures.
MINURSO has already reduced its peacekeeping patrols, as confirmed by Alexander Ivanko, head of the mission, in an address to the Security Council on April 14. «Our observation and monitoring activities west of the Berm continued as planned until mid-March, when I had to slow them down due to financial issues», he admitted in his speech.
