Sahrawis

Living in exile

For more than four decades, the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf (Algeria) have housed 173,600 people living in conditions of poverty and vulnerability. These camps are located in the Algerian hamada, a desert area characterized by very adverse weather conditions, such as extreme temperatures, strong winds often accompanied by torrential rain, and shifting dunes. After the illegal occupation of Morocco in 1976, the Sahrawi people formed a republic in exile, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Generation after generation, the hope of one day returning to their land, Western Sahara, is diminishing. This report was made in 2005 accompanying a team from the NGO Médicos del Mundo.