Sahrawi families attempt to escape the Tindouf camps heading to Mauritania

Many families in the Tindouf camps have heeded the call, launched on Thursday April 23 by the Polisario leadership to settle in the areas east of the security wall, heading towards the Mauritanian borders.

The Mauritanian army has foiled a number of previous escape attempts. On Tuesday, a military patrol stopped a car carrying 10 people including 3 children as it was preparing to enter the city of Zouerate, local online newspaper Zouerate Media reported.

The operation is not the first of its kind as two days before, another Zouerate police unit arrested two women and a child from the Tindouf camps then handed them over to Front, the same source added.

The day before, soldiers prohibited two families from passing through the Oum Grine border crossing. They were forced to return to the camps.

In agreement with the Algerian authorities, Nouakchott closed its borders with Algiers. The measure was taken to avoid the spread of the new coronavirus. But this decision seriously aggravated the living conditions of Sahrawis living in the Tindouf camps.