At least 520 families are said to have been evacuated in the Dakhla camp this week after heavy rains.
The flood is said to have affected private homes, the district hospital in Dakhla and educational institutions. Dakhla camp is a couple of hours' drive from the other camps, which are closer to the Algerian city of Tindouf.
A delegation from the UN organizations in the camps traveled to the remote camp on the morning of 23 September to assess the damage.
In a press release on 24 September, the Saharawi Red Crescent asks the international community for financial support to handle the situation.
They write that 27% of the affected families need to completely reconstruct their homes. The emergency aid organizations in the camps must have distributed tents. A press release from the Red Crescent on 23 September put the number of evacuated families at 350.
Climate change affects Saharawi refugees in several ways. Half of Western Sahara's population has been banished to a life in refugee camps where the temperatures will rise much higher than closer to the coast where they have normally lived. The Saharawi people are not represented in international climate talks and financing arrangements for climate adaptation. Its traditional skills for adapting to local conditions have also been upended as a result of the occupation. At the same time, Morocco enjoys praise and funding for its illegal projects on the lands of the Saharawi people, where Saharawi houses are burned down to make way for wind turbines suited by the Moroccan king's private companies. Morocco reports to the UN system in violation of the rules that have been established that one should only report on the climate nationally. See more about this climate injustice here. Earlier this year, the French authorities promised that they would finance a power cable from the occupied territories into Morocco, so that the electricity produced in Western Sahara could be used in Morocco and for export.
The pictures below were sent to the Support Committee on 23 September. Download dramatic video clip.
This week, Morocco is for the first time placed under review in the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
The Norwegian-owned 'Caroline Theresa' called at two ports in the occupied territories last week.
In a recent published decision of 1 April 2024, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention requested the immediate release of the young Saharawi journalist Khatri Dadda.
The occupying power Morocco, which sabotages the work of the UN Human Rights Council in occupied Western Sahara, has begun its first session after being elected to preside the Council.