Sahara-UN: Electronic system to monitor humanitarian aid to Tindouf

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has decided to install an electronic system in the Tindouf camps to monitor international humanitarian aid and avoid the assistance diversion by Polisario executives with the complicity of some Algerian officials.

This decision is a first made by the United Nations to fight misappropriation of international humanitarian aid to the detriment of beneficiary populations.

Before the installation of this equipment, civil and military agents of the UN mission in the Sahara, “MINURSO”, underwent a training course on the supervision of the operations of storage and distribution of food rations to the inhabitants of the Tindouf camps.

The training course was supervised last week by MINURSO chief Colin Stewart and the commander of the military force, Zia Ur Rehman, Moroccan daily “Assabah” reported, citing informed sources. The training courses were moderated by a team from the Information and Communication Technology Office, headed by Abd Al Miraage.

The trainees were taught how to use the Rotronic Monitoring System (RMS) in order to put an end to the systematic misappropriation of humanitarian aid destined to the inhabitants of the Tindouf camps. According to many reports, the assistance goods were sold in markets in southern Algeria, Mauritania, and other neighboring countries.

This year, the United Nations allocated an annual budget of $60.45 million to MINURSO for the period running from July 2019 to June 2020. The new budget was increased by 10% from the previous budget, despite Washington’s threats to stop funding the mission.