Aid or Alibi? The Hypocrisy Behind the Sahrawi Humanitarian Response

By Isabel Lourenço

he 2024 “Sahrawi Refugees Response Plan” should be a call for global solidarity. Instead, it reads like an inventory of hypocrisy. Published under the banner of humanitarian concern, the report is little more than a public relations mask for some of the very actors responsible for the Sahrawi tragedy.

Let us speak plainly: France, the United States, and Spain — among the most prominent donors — are not neutral benefactors. They are direct accomplices in the creation, prolongation, and normalization of the occupation of Western Sahara. They are the architects of a crisis they now claim to be managing.

These powers — along with others, including the European Union, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada, etc. and a collection of multinationals like ENGIE, Siemens, Total, and others — are not “helping” the Sahrawi people. They are feeding on their displacement while offering crumbs in return.

France: Colonial Protector and Diplomatic Shield
France has played a central role in Morocco’s occupation since day one. From providing political cover at the UN Security Council to supplying weapons and maintaining intelligence collaboration, Paris has consistently acted to undermine Sahrawi self-determination.

French companies continue to profit from occupied territory, particularly in the agricultural and extractive sectors. And yet, France appears in the SRRP as a key donor — not as the colonial accomplice it truly is.

United States: From Recognition to Complicity
The U.S. is a key ally of Morocco since the first plan to invade Western Sahara with the support of Kissinger. The USA endorsed Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara under the Trump administration — a decision never reversed by President Biden and now even enhanced in the new Trump administration. This move violated international law and emboldened the Moroccan regime, triggering a new cycle of repression and militarization.

Arms deals left and right between the USA and Morocco are known — and even one day before the Napalm bombings in the first months of the invasion, the USA delivered military support to Morocco.

At the same time, the U.S. ships food to the Tindouf camps under the pretext of aid — feeding the victims of a conflict it actively fuels.

Spain: The Historical Betrayer Still in Denial
Spain’s role is the most cynical of all. As the former colonial power and the de jure administering authority under international law, Spain never fulfilled its obligation to decolonize. Instead, it signed the illegal Madrid Accords of 1975, enabling Morocco’s occupation and washing its hands from all responsibility.

Today, Spain supports Morocco’s so-called “autonomy plan,” allowing Spanish companies to operate in illegally occupied waters and lands and does nothing to prevent its airspace to be used by the Moroccans with killer drones against Sahrawi civilians. Meanwhile, it poses as a donor — treating the refugees it abandoned as a technical issue, not a moral and legal responsibility.

Brazil: The Mask of South-South Solidarity
Under President Lula da Silva, Brazil has positioned itself rhetorically as a voice for the Global South and anti-colonial solidarity. But in practice, Brazil has become yet another hypocrite in the Sahrawi tragedy.

Brazilian entities are engaged in phosphate import deals from occupied Western Sahara — phosphate that is illegally extracted from land that belongs to the Sahrawi people under international law. Brazil has also entertained military-industrial ties with Morocco, including aircraft discussions that stand in contradiction with any claims of neutrality or commitment to peace.

While Brazil postures as a progressive actor on the world stage, it is deepening its complicity in a colonial occupation and profiting from stolen resources — all while offering token diplomatic gestures that ring hollow.

The Humanitarian Façade
The SRRP report is filled with figures, acronyms, and institutional gloss — but makes no mention of the occupation, the ongoing war since the end of the 1991 ceasefire in 2020, or the daily human rights violations in the occupied territories.

It portrays the Sahrawi people as a logistical burden rather than a nation in exile with a legal right to return. It reduces colonization to nutrition indicators and displacement to vaccination rates.

This is deliberate depoliticization, designed to hide the role of donor states in sustaining the occupation — while securing moral credit for minimal, symbolic aid.

Humanitarianism Without Justice Is Complicity
Let’s not be fooled. The countries and institutions listed in the SRRP are not just passive observers. Most of them:

Recognize or endorse Morocco’s “autonomy” plan
Profit from illegal trade, phosphate theft, and renewable energy projects
Provide military equipment to Morocco
Silence or suppress international legal processes in favor of Sahrawi rights
Their aid is not humanitarian. It is an alibi — a way to appear benevolent while enabling plunder.

And worst of all: everything they “donate” has already been stolen from the Sahrawi people themselves. These contributions are not acts of generosity — they are the redistribution of loot, wrapped in institutional branding.

The Sahrawi People Deserve More Than Band-Aids
The Sahrawi people do not want to be fed in camps while their homeland is sold to the highest bidder. They demand — and are entitled to — freedom, restitution, and justice.

Until donors acknowledge the political roots of the Sahrawi refugee crisis — namely, Moroccan occupation and international complicity — their contributions will remain morally hollow.

It’s time to stop applauding handouts and start calling out the system that created the need for them. Aid without accountability is not compassion — it is collaboration.

POR UN SAHARA LIBRE .org - PUSL
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