Pressrelease 2006/018 - Tobias Pflüger (MEP) - Brüssel, 24.2.2006

On the help in the face of the humanitarian catastrophe in the prisoner camps in the West Sahara, the European deputy of the Left fraction, Tobias Pflüger, member of the foreign relations committee and the subcommittee security and defence, declares:

Heavy rainfalls in the beginning of the month have destroyed more than half of the houses in the Saharan prisoner's camps. None of the health centres can be used, and also the hospitals were severely damaged, including the pharmacies and medical equipment. All schools were destroyed.

Up to now, the Agency for Humanitarian Aid of the European Commission (ECHO) that has been supporting the refugees from the Western Sahara for the last couple of years, has allocated only 900,000 Euros for tents, covers, and tarpaulins. This is in no way adequate. Moreover, for the time being, apparently only part has been delivered. It is characteristic that the EU sees no way of offering money for military interventions, but when it is a matter of supporting refugees in need, provides means in shamefully low quantity. This has to change.

From Friday, the 24th until Sunday, the 26th of February, 2006, I will be in Tindouf for the celebrations on occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Democratic Arab Republic of Sahara (DARS) in Tindouf and get a picture on the premises.

It is high time that the European Union finally finishes its close cooperation with Morocco's monarchy, no longer illegally exploits the natural resources in the West Sahara, as happened with the fishery treaty, and instead supports the Saharan population in order to open a perspective to the people that have been staying for more than 30 years in the desert camps now.

Brussels, February 24th, 2006
Contact: 0174/76550483
For further information on the campaign against the UE fishery treaty with Morocco under: .
Translated by Carla Krüger, February 25th, 2006