October 14, 2013 – As part of its Western Sahara Reporting Fellowship, the IWMF led a reporting trip to the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria. A group of six journalists and two IWMF staff traveled to the camps October 7-13 for the Fi Sahara film festival, a truly unique event in an inhospitable environment.

Participating journalists were Larisa Epatko, PBS Newshour; Edythe McNamee, CNN.com; Kristen McTighe, International New York Times and Global Post; Whitney Shefte, Washington Post; Sarah Topol, independent; and Portia Walker, BBC and other outlets (learn more about the IWMF Western Sahara reporting fellows).

While in the camps, the journalists had access to a wide range of people, from the Sahrawi president Mohamed Abdelaziz, to the Ministers of Interior, Justice, and Security among other senior Polisario representatives, to leaders of the Women’s Union, to regular families living in the camps, providing them with a glimpse of the extreme hardships of living in the camps. The IWMF delegation also met with the head of the Red Crescent, who painted a very bleak picture of food security issues in the camps.

Read also:
“It is fascinating to be granted access to an under-reported place” | Interview with Reporting Fellow Edythe McNamee
“It can be difficult to convey just how sensitive a topic this issue is in Morocco” | Interview with Reporting Fellow Portia Walker
Photo Story: Sahrawi refugee camps | By Reporting Fellow Whitney Shefte