UN Plan Calls For US $214M to Ensure Humanitarian Needs of Sahrawi Refugees

The United Nations, through its agencies and humanitarian actors, announced a plan to meet the needs of the Sahrawi refugees, with a funding amount of 214 million US dollars, while stressing that 90% of the Sahrawi population residing in the Tindouf camps (southern Algeria) suffer from food insecurity or are vulnerable to malnutrition, leading to severe health deterioration, especially among the most vulnerable groups like kids, as 1/10 children suffer from severe malnutrition.

This came during a conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Algiers, on Tuesday, attended by representatives of the embassies of South Africa, France, Canada, Western Sahara, Croatia, Poland, and countries donors of humanitarian aid to the Sahrawi refugees.

The United Nations Coordinator in Algeria, Alejandro Alvarez, stated that the United Nations, through its agencies, has made great efforts to prepare a plan to enhance the effectiveness of humanitarian work to meet the needs of the Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps, ensuring that they do not neglect anyone, through a strong and sustainable alliance that includes all 28 humanitarian actors in the field.

The spokesman added that the Sahrawi Refugee Response Plan (SRRP) document includes the total needs of 173,600 Sahrawis residing in camps for the period 2024-2025, which is estimated at 214 million US dollars.

“In Algeria today, the UN launched the Sahrawi Refugee Response Plan, covering the next two years – 2024-2025. The plan calls for US $214 million to ensure food stability, and a reliable water supply as well as to address the nutritional requirements of people living in camps in Tindouf (southern Algeria). Funding will also be used to enhance educational access, offer protection services, and improve and promote the health of the men, women and children living there. The plan also includes measures to diversify livelihood activities”, the Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, published on its website here on Tuesday.

The UN plan aims to ensure food stability, address nutritional requirements within refugee camps, enhance access to education, ensure safe water supplies, and provide protection services, including civil status and special needs, and enhance health conditions. In addition, measures are in place to diversify livelihood activities to mitigate the negative effects of aid volatility. Humanity and the impact of rising global prices on food markets.

For his part, the Sahrawi ambassador to Algeria, Abdelkader Taleb Omar, said that the United Nations’ recognition of the number of Sahrawi refugees, which reaches 173,600, is a response to the Moroccan regime, which refutes the real number of Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps.

Led by the UN Refugees Agency (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the new plan encompasses a robust and sustainable alliance of all 28 humanitarian actors on the ground to meet the needs of Sahrawi refugees.

“Our colleagues note that donors have demonstrated steadfast solidarity with the Sahrawi refugees by providing critical humanitarian support. However, they say that despite this support, operations there remain underfunded”, the Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, added.

“With the Response plan launched today, the UN renewed its call to fund operations to provide humanitarian assistance to Sahrawi refugees”, it concluded.