In recent months, the Tindouf camps in southern Algeria have been catapulted into a perilously unprecedented security situation, with tribal conflicts intensifying and the Polisario Front failing to maintain control, said Forstaim Forum on Thursday.
The Front finds itself in a weakened situation–still unable to contain the unrest–which has come to a head in recent days. Even after an armed conflict between the Reguibat and Oulad Delim tribes was deemed out-of-control, the leadership was unable to contain them and remained as helpless as its predecessors regarding the countless conflicts in the camps over the past three months.
The security situation in the camp is the most serious it has been in several years–particularly for Reguibat–whose rage grows not only against Ouled Delim tribe, but also against the Polisario’s leadership, whom they are attempting to oust.
The Reguibat are gathering more and more allies to tip the separatist group leadership, declaring that their “flag” does not mean anything to them, as they are ready to set up their own camp away from the Polisario Front.
All tribes had come to say that, because they were forcibly recruited–or at the very least recruited through bribery or quid pro quo conditions–when tribal conflicts had intensified, militia members had joined their tribes in their disputes with other tribes and tribe-sheltering elements until the Front had lost what it called its security backbone–not to mention its actual authority–as it was attempting to reassert control over the camps.
The Algerian army intervened on one occasion inside the camps in order to disarm a tribal faction before a bloody massacre, a clear indication of the failure of the so-called Polisario operatives and militias, whose members were focused at that time on leaving the ranks of Front membership, thereby rendering it virtually paralyzed.
The Forum reported that the Front was simply trying to buy time in order to contain the situation, and that Algeria is still trying to comprehend the reasons for the ensuing vulnerability, while simultaneously pursuing rapport with the leaders of the uprisings, assuaging dissonance with the elders and members of the Sahrawi tribes in the hopes of restoring tranquility, and even bribing the disenchanted with material rewards in exchange for such peace.