Province in western Algeria

Urgent help needed in TindoufUrgent help needed in Tindouf

Destruction. 158,000 people left homeless

Torrential rains have wreaked havoc in the desert region

c.m.w..Maó

Some 158,000 Sahrawi refugees have been left homeless after torrential rains destroyed half the tents and all the adobe buildings in refugee camps in the Tindouf province of Western Algeria.

Aid is desperately needed to provide food, drinking water, shelter and medicines to these people from the Western Sahara in the worst-affected camps of Smara, El Aaiun, Awserd and February 27.

The heavy rains of the last two weeks have added to the problems of a people totally reliant on international and Algerian aid, who have seen foreign aid diminish in recent months.

The Amics del Poble Sahrauí (Friends of the Sahrawi People) association in the Balearic Islands has now opened an account in Sa Nostra (0248-43-1051762220) for donations from anyone who wishes to contribute. The amount collected will be sent directly to the Red Crescent so that food and medicine can be supplied to the refugee camps. The charity appealed for aid last week to ensure that schools could continue and basic sanitary necessities could be provided.

The Balearic Government has already contributed 90,000 euros to the relief fund as well as a parcel of emergency kits. AECI (the Spanish Agency for International Co-operation) has sent two aircraft to the region loaded with food, drinking water and medicines supplied by non-governmental organisations.

Menorca has close ties with the region, with many children from the refugee camps being invited to the island during the summer months to give them a break from the hardships of their everyday lives in a region where summer temperatures often rise above 50ºC and there are frequent sandstorms. There is little or no vegetation in this part of the Sahara and few of the refugee camps have access to water, with sources being neither clean nor sufficient for the entire population. The people are entirely dependent on foreign aid for the basic necessities of life which are brought in to the area by international agencies.

The president of the Menorcan branch of the Amics del Poble Sahrauí, Francesc Cardona, says "The people we know personally are not affected so much, and they don´t complain much, but half of the refugee population has been left without tents and without the adobe buildings". According to Red Crescent information, 17,000 tents are needed immediately to provide shelter to the 158,000 people left without a home