This week the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) received an initial contribution of € 400,000 ($ 452,000) from the government of France (EU) to support Saharawi refugee children in camps in Algeria.

The French contribution will support WFP’s school food program, for about 40,000 children in schools and day care centers. This will allow each child to receive a mid-morning snack (nutritious cookies and milk) as soon as schools open again.

According to statements by Imed Khanfir, WFP representative and the director in Algeria, this help:

.. will be fundamental for the future of these children … WFP is very grateful to the people and government of France for their support to our school food program. .. “.

France will then be responsible for giving 40,000 children a packet of milk and cookies five times a week. Should we be thrilled? No, we should not.

France is largely responsible for the fact that these children, their parents and grandparents live in refugee camps and are dependent on food aid.

The 400,000 Euros divided by 40,000 children equals 10 Euros per child which represents a in a year of basic education with a minimum duration of 200 days, 0.05 Euros a day. Five cents a day is not enough to buy milk and cookies anywhere in the world. According to PAM the cost per child snack is 0.25Euros. Based on this data, France’s charitable contribution amounts to 40 snacks per child.

40 snacks on a scale where on the other side are 45 years of occupation and survival in refugee camps, 29 years of obstruction by France in the Security Council and 16 years of war where France supported the Moroccan occupier logistically.

If we put on this scale the 400,000 Euros of snacks and the price of just one of the multiple French planes that were used during the war to bomb Saharawi, and whose cost was around 8 million Euros[1], we see the extreme hypocrisy of this “charity”.

France’s support for Morocco

During the war France participated actively from Nouakchott on several occasions, until Mauritania’s withdrawal from Saharawi territory, but supported Morocco with logistics and funding during the 16 years of armed conflict between the Polisario Front and Morocco until the ceasefire in 1991.

From the first moment, Morocco had the strong support of the USA and France in the occupation of Western Sahara and in the genocide of the Saharawi people.

Even today, military support for the Moroccan occupation continues, as shown by “DISCLOSE” and its research partners (Lighthouse Reports, in cooperation with Disclose and with the support of Arte, Mediapart, Radio France and Bellingcat) who in an in depth investigation, analyzed videos, images satellite and reporting and found that aircraft and warships sold by French companies to Morocco have recently been implicated in Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara.

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