Recent allegations regarding the management of aid received by refugees in the Tindouf camps point to a particularly dire situation. Compounding the precarious conditions endured by thousands of families are accusations of misappropriation of humanitarian aid, a lack of transparency, and a pyramid scheme that has left thousands of refugees, merchants, and cooperatives in destitution.
Thousands of Sahrawi families have been eking out a meager existence for years in the Tindouf camps under extremely precarious conditions, forced to prop up a phantom state that uses them as a lure to attract humanitarian aid, which is diverted to other purposes that have nothing to do with altruism; it has long been it has long been known that the leaders of the Polisario Front have used aid money to finance their own businesses both inside and outside Algeria.
But in addition to the misappropriation of humanitarian aid, in recent years we have witnessed the emergence of new forms of exploitation of refugees through fraudulent financial operations and intermediary networks which, according to the victims’ allegations, have taken advantage of the economic vulnerability of the camp population to continue profiting.
There are many sides to this story: in addition to the well-known diversion of food aid as well as medicines and medical supplies, new forms of exploiting refugees are emerging, as in the case of Infravest for Contracting and Investment, a company promoted by camp leaders under the auspices of the Algerian government, the company had been collecting money from camp residents since 2022 with the promise of quickly turning their meager savings into profit, and whose collapse has sparked intense outrage among the refugees. Thousands of Sahrawis have been swindled and have lost all their savings without any Polisario Front leader taking responsibility.
Sallamou Abba Ali founder of Infravest
Infravest: The Massive Scam That Has Left Hundreds of Families in Total Poverty
This is undoubtedly the incident that has stirred up the most anger in recent years among the refugee population: the company Infravest for Contracting and Investment, which began operating in the camps in 2022 under the leadership of Sallamou Abba Ali.
The company reportedly made a name for itself through cultural patronage and purported construction projects. This image of financial stability and respectability allowed it to gain the trust of numerous refugees.
But Infravest was in reality a Ponzi-style pyramid scheme, in which the savings of thousands of Sahrawi families have been trapped. The money claimed by the victims—primarily small merchants and cooperatives outside the camps’ power structure—totals approximately 886,000 million Algerian dinars, or about 6.6 million U.S. dollars, an enormous sum for a population living in utter precariousness.
The mastermind behind this scam, Sallamou Abba Ali—who has always enjoyed the protection and support of the leaders of the Polisario Front—reportedly fled the camps with all the money and is now at large.
Over the past month, the victims have repeatedly protested, mainly in the camps of Rabuni and Chahid El Hafed, demanding justice from the Polisario Front leadership and the return of their savings. But the military apparatus that maintains a tight grip on the camps has quashed the protests, and none of the Front’s leaders has offered any explanation to the victims; on the contrary, as is the case with the misappropriation of aid, the code of silence has been enforced.
The refugee camps: a lucrative business for the Polisario Front
The Infravest case is not an isolated incident; it is part of a broader system of corruption and embezzlement, based primarily on the diversion of international aid that reaches the camps.
For years, there have been reports of the massive diversion and sale of food aid; international institutions such as the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) have produced highly credible reports on the diversion of food, medicine, and logistical supplies intended for refugees. Those responsible for this criminal network—which deprives refugees in the camps of basic foodstuffs and denies them health care—are, first and foremost, the leaders of the Polisario Front, a criminal organization that not only sells aid but also engages in other illicit activities such as arms dealing and drug trafficking, and secondly, all the international institutions that continue to tolerate these fraudulent practices for fear of coming into conflict with the Algerian government, the Polisario Front’s main supporter.
European Networks of Corruption and the Misappropriation of Humanitarian Aid by the Polisario Front
The allegations are not limited to the camps; they have also reached Europe, with one of the most flagrant cases of fund misappropriation involving Italy. There, several Sahrawi activists and dissident voices have questioned the management of aid by Fatima Mahfoud, the Polisario Front’s official representative in the country.
The accusations center on a lack of transparency in certain aid projects and in the handling of resources earmarked for humanitarian initiatives in the camps. The whistleblowers maintain that the Polisario Front representative allegedly exploited the vulnerable situation of Sahrawi children, as well as the refugees’ urgent need for medical care, to raise funds whose final destination was not subject to sufficient oversight. The destination of this money remains unknown, and several independent platforms have reported on these allegations; to date, no Polisario Front leader has provided information or documentation certifying that the funds raised in Italy were used for humanitarian purposes.
Unfortunately, exploiting the suffering of refugees in the Tindouf camps to raise money and then embezzle it is common practice among representatives of the Polisario Front in European countries; many representatives of this organization use these funds to live in luxury and to finance businesses in which members of the organization’s leadership are also involved.
Humanitarian organizations, as well as activists in the camps, have for years been calling on the international community, the European Union, and donor countries to review the system for distributing aid to Sahrawi refugees—a system that benefits only the leadership of the Polisario Front. In addition to calling for greater oversight, they demand that Algerian authorities stop facilitating the diversion and subsequent smuggling of food aid intended for refugees—which ends up in markets across the Sahel—an illicit business that brings in millions of euros for the Polisario Front.
Among the proposals put forward by human rights and free speech activists in the camps is the need to establish a rigorous registry of aid recipients and to authorize independent audits and mechanisms that allow for the tracking of funds and supplies.
They also demand that any potential irregularities be investigated by the competent authorities and that, if crimes are proven, those responsible be held accountable before the law.
Refugee camps should not be exempt from the monitoring and oversight of humanitarian aid by donor countries and organizations. For many years, the Polisario Front has been allowed to administer this aid in a nontransparent manner; the result is catastrophic: thousands of refugees continue to eke out a meager existence in deplorable conditions. Worst of all, they cannot report this situation, and if they do, they face double repression from both members of the Polisario Front and the Algerian military—who are the true authorities governing the camps.