As UN Envoy Christopher Ross today travels to the Saharawi refugee camps in Southwest Algeria, concerns are mounting for thousands of Western Saharan citizens taking part in protests following a mass exodus from the major cities in Moroccan occupied Western Sahara on the 9th October.

Approximately 10,000 Western Saharan (Saharawi) citizens have moved out of the cities and are camping in the area of Gdeim Izik outside the capital El Aauin in protest against the Morocco occupation of Western Sahara, and the ongoing discrimination, poverty and human rights abuses against Saharawi citizens. Moroccan Security Forces have exercised violence against the protestors there are reports they are preventing supplies of food, water and medicine reaching the camps, sparking concern that this could become a major humanitarian issue.

President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, has called on UNHCR to provide supplies to the protesters and asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay to intervene warning "They are without water, food and medicines, which could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe."

The protest comes as UN Envoy Christopher Ross called the current impasse over Western Sahara ‘untenable’ in his trip to the region this week and travels to the refugee camps near southwest Algeria today where 165,000 saharawis have lived in exile since 1975. His trip is part of the ongoing UN sponsored negotiations between the parties.

John Gurr of the Western Sahara Campaign UK said today:

We are very concerned about supplies reaching the camps. The UN should address this issue immediately. It is absurd that the Saharawi are forced to go to such lengths to draw attention to their situation. If firm action is not taken, the ongoing failure of the Security Council to protect the rights of the people of Western Sahara and finally resolve this conflict will produce yet more suffering.