Algeria, Tindouf refugee camp. Saharawi Cemetery in El Aaiun. Refugee family prays next to the tomb of his mother in exile © Victoria Herranz 2016
Algeria, Tindouf refugee camp. Shepherd leading one of his camels along the Algerian tarmac that separates the camps from the desert © Victoria Herranz 2016
Western Sahara, Free Zone. Bir Lehlu, restricted access zone due to high concentration of antipersonnel mines and anti-barren. Abbaba Mustafa Elbad, woman of the dismantling team, along with one of her colleagues working on the ground © Victoria Herranz 2016
Algeria, Tindouf refugee camp, Rabuni wilaya. Center Residence Martyr The Sheriff of victims of mines and war. Woman exercising care © Victoria Herranz 2016
Algeria, Tindouf refugee camp, Rabuni wilaya. Center Residence Martyr The Sheriff of victims of mines and war. A little girl, familiar to resident victims, walks the aisles looking through a broken bottle © Victoria Herranz 2016
Algeria, Tindouf refugee camp, Rabuni wilaya. Center Residence Martyr The Sheriff of victims of mines and war. Caregiver resting while checking her mobile phone © Victoria Herranz 2016
Algeria, Tindouf refugee camp, Rabuni wilaya. Center Residence Martyr The sheriff of victims of mines and war. Amputated victims wait for tea preparation © Victoria Herranz 2016
Algeria, Tindouf refugee camp, Rabuni wilaya. Center Residence Martyr The Sheriff of victims of mines and war. Known as El Mexicano, he was wounded in the war in 1980, hit by a fragment of shrapnel from Moroccan aviation. He remains in the center since 2005. His family accompanies him in summer © Victoria Herranz 2016
Algeria, Tindouf refugee camp, Rabuni wilaya. Center Residence Martyr The Sheriff of victims of mines and war. He said Muhamed Fadel remains prostrate in a bed since 1982. An anti-mine mine exploded a his step fractured the spine. Since then, he can only slightly move his right hand and neck © Victoria Herranz 2016
Algeria, Tindouf refugee camp, Smara wilaya. Simón Bolívar Secondary School, sponsored by the governments of Cuba and Venezuela. Two refugees wait in the empty dining room © Victoria Herranz 2016
Sun, sand and patience abound for natives of the Western Sahara, many of whom have survived the last 38 years in the Algerian hamada thanks to international aid. In 1976, the independence movement, the Polisario Front, proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (RASD) in what is today called the Western Sahara just as Spain, the former colonial power, withdrew from the territory. This land has since been the subject of dispute between Mauritania and Morocco, the country which occupies almost all of it to date.
On 12 January 2007, Nicaragua joined the African Union and the 45 world nations which recognise the sovereignty of RASD. No European country either recognises the RASD as a sovereign entity, or the annexation carried out by Morocco. Meanwhile, 260,000 inhabitants of the Western Sahara are currently living in an effective no-man’s land claimed by Morocco. There, local institutions have no power and are not given any public assistance.
Neighbouring Algeria, a firm defender of Western Saharan independence, provides refuge to 160,000 Sahrawis in the desert surrounding the Algerian province of Tindouf. Isolated from the rest of the world, they depend on what the European NGO lorries take from the port of Oran to the south of the country. Here, a generation raised abroad is beginning to question how long it will be before a referendum is held. Many of these young men do not rule out returning to arms.
ARTICLE UPON REQUEST
A Sahrawi woman looks through the gate of the 27th of February camp in Tindouf, Algeria.
A woman walks through poat pens at the February 27th refugee camp in Tindouf, Algeria.
Two woman cook a family meal at a Sahrawi refugee camp in Tindouf, Algeria.
A man works at a construction site at sunset in Tindouf, Algeria.
A woman prepares tea at the 27th of February camp, in Tindouf, Algeria.
A woman prays at the Auserd refugee camp Tindouf, Algeria.
A young man walks through the graveyard in the Esmara camp, Tindouf, Algeria.
A man stands in front of his small shop in Esmara refugee camp, Tindouf, Algeria.
A child plays near an acacia tree at Dajla camp, Tindouf, Algeria.
Sahrawi men in a Land Rover in El Aaiún camp, Tindouf, Algeria.
Landscape near Tifariti in the Western Sahara, currently claimed as part of the 'buffer zone' by Morocco.
Families from the refugee camps meet with other families from what they consider occupied territories in the Esmara camp in Tindouf, Algeria.
A cemetery lies on the outskirts of Esmara refugee camp, Tindouf, Algeria.
A man mutilated by war prepares tea in the room where he lives in the Rabuni refugee camp hospital in Tindouf, Algeria.
A Sahrawi woman lives in the 27th of February camp in Tindouf, Algeria.
Haimas in Tifariti, in the Western Sahara, currently claimed as part of the 'buffer zone' by Morocco.
Landscape near El Aaiun camp, Tindouf, Western Sahara.
Tomatoes are grown in one of the greenhouses in the Dajla camp, Tindouf, Algeria.
Young people talk across the fence at the Dajla camp in Tindouf, Algeria.
A Sahrawi sits with is camel near the February 27th camp in Tindouf, Algeria.
Young women walk around the February 27th camp in Tindouf, Algeria.
Soldiers line up in rank and file near Tifariti, in the Moroccan "buffer zone."
Bir Lehlu is a village in the part of the Western Sahara claimed by Morocco.
A soldier waves back to his colleagues during a counter terrorism patrol in the Western Sahara desert.
Counter terrorism patrols are carried out regularly in the areas of the Western Sahara where Moroccan-claimed land borders Algeria and Mauritania.
A decorative light in the shape of the Western Sahara hangs in the desert near Bir Lehlu.
Containers full of aid are lined up in the desert near the Rabouni refugee camp.
A man stands beside his broken-down car in the Rabouni camp.
A woman dresses in festive attire and waves a Western Sahara flag during a rally for the independence of the Western Sahara.