October 09, 2026 01:05 pm (IST)
Follow us:
Western Sahara: UN announces resumption of family visit flights
New York, Apr 18 (IBNS): The United Nations refugee agency announced on Thursday that following many months of suspension, family visit flights between Sahrawi refugees living in camps near Tindouf, Algeria, and their families in the territory of Western Sahara has resumed.
The flights, under the agency’s Confidence Building Measures programme, resumed on Wednesday with a total of 192 people gathered from Tindouf and other nearby refugee camps taking part in the visits.
“I am pleased that these flights have now resumed, enabling separated families to see each other again,” said Athar Sultan Khan, chief of staff of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
“I urge all the concerned parties to remain committed to this humanitarian process and UNHCR stands ready to provide support,” he added.
UNHCR’s Confidence Building Measures programme for the Western Sahara refugee situation is an important humanitarian activity under its mandate. It includes cultural seminars, a programme of family visits and coordination meetings in Geneva with the two parties, Morocco and Frente Polisario, and two neighbouring countries, Algeria and Mauritania.
Nearly 20,000 people have taken part in family visits since the programme began in 2004, and more than 150 people have participated in five seminars supported by the Portuguese Government. The fifth Confidence Building Measures seminar took place in the Azores, Portugal, in March 2014 and the next coordination meeting will be held in Geneva in June.
According to UNHCR, refugee families in the camps originating from the territory of Western Sahara have been separated for nearly four decades because of the absence of a political solution that might end their plight. Refugees started arriving in Algeria in 1975 after Spain withdrew from Western Sahara and fighting broke out over its control.
The UN has been involved in mediation efforts to find a settlement to the Western Sahara dispute, led in recent years by the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, Christopher Ross, who has called on both parties to demonstrate flexibility and creativity in working towards a solution.
Meanwhile in New York on Thursday, the Security Council held a closed-door meeting to hear a briefing on the latest developments regarding Western Sahara.
[Somali migrants being deported to Mogadishu from Kenya (April 2014). Photo: IRIN/Ahmed Hassan]
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
‘Crash axe’ blow fractured Smit Machchhar’s skull: Shocking details emerge from flydubai cockpit horror
Tue, Oct 06 2026
Israel was ready to shoot down Flydubai jet if it kept flying towards Tel Aviv: Reports
Tue, Oct 06 2026
Three Indian sailors safe after cargo ship struck and sunk off Romania in Black Sea attack; two dead
Mon, Oct 05 2026
‘Stomp on your head’: Omani flydubai co-pilot’s chilling posts on violence against women surface
Mon, Oct 05 2026
Flydubai cockpit incident: Omani pilot 'planned' to crash plane into Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in 9/11-style attack
Mon, Oct 05 2026