Agostino Mulas and the battle of the Sahrawis: "An invisible people forgotten by all"

"My dream? To see the Mediterranean return to being a bridge, a connection between lands, as it has always been. Now it is becoming a real wall ”. Agostino Mulas, 62, born in Madrid "but with Sardinian blood in his veins", is head of mission and representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Algeria. It is involved in helping the local government to support the invisible, those who no one talks about and those who have no voice because their battle is not news beyond the borders in which they live. So much so that even the European Commission has defined them as "forgotten".
They are the Sahrawis, refugees in the Tindouf camps for over 40 years, “basically two generations of people who one day hope to be able to return to the western part of the Sahara - explains Mulas -. Originating from the Iberian colony that Spain decided to abandon in 1975, prompting Moroccan demand, they fled when their independence was not recognized. They abandoned their homes, their history and took their luggage to Algeria, a country that has always had a tradition of hospitality. Since then there has been a peacekeeping mission to find a solution, but the negotiations have never achieved the desired goal ".
Nurri's father and Cuglieri's maternal grandfather, who grew up between Colombia and Mexico, the first time he went to Sardinia he was a teenager, "it was a great desire of mine, I had always heard of it in my family, they described it to me as a wonderful place" ; he was able to visit his uncles, cousins and various relatives in Nurri, Esterzili, Cagliari and the province. Since then "it is a fixed stage for me religiously every year".

When he returned to Italy to attend the University the idea was to put down roots in the beautiful country: “I didn't want to move anymore, I wanted to have children who would grow up there. Unfortunately I also had the 'virus' of nomadism and I looked for a job in the United Nations. "After a long career and many logistical difficulties, having been moved to all continents, he arrived in Algeria." I had experienced the main international crises of the Eighties in Central America, the war in Liberia, the situation in Bangladesh, the Balkans, Rwanda, almost always bringing my wife and children with me ”.
Algeria confronted him with the humanitarian question of the Sahrawis, an indefinite number of people who for four decades have struggled to return to what they live as a "home", the one they abandoned 40 years ago,   Western Sahara.
Why don't you have a precise number of these people?
“An estimate is difficult to make because there are about 90,000 vulnerable people we assist, but we are aware that there are actually many more. A real census has not been carried out and the hope of the UN is to reach a referendum to decide on independence and therefore to give an exact number of Sahrawis ”.
How can they be "defined"?
“Their condition is not comparable to the Italian distinction between migrants, refugees or displaced persons. The UN uses the term 'refugees' to indicate those in need of international protection, while the migrant is the one who moves not because he is persecuted but to pursue an opportunity, a better future. If he fails to fit into a new community, he risks being sent home, and it will be a failure. This is his only fear, something different from the 'refugee' who, on the other hand, has every reason to fear for his life if he is sent back from where he started ”.

What does your work consist of?
“I am head of mission and representative of UNHCR, I am in charge of helping the Algerian government to try to give help to the refugees who are in this territory. It is a country that has a long tradition of asylum and support, it has also received refugees from the Middle East, Europe, Syria, there are currently 100-200 thousand Sahrawis in the southwestern camps to which we provide assistance ”.
How?

“We give them essential goods: food, water, but we also take care of their health, school education, professional training. In order to provide them with the tools for a future worthy of the name. Few are those who leave, the sense of community they feel is very strong. So there are whole families, the children go to school, the kids go to the University in Algeria and some in Spain. For example, many have been to Cuba and returned as doctors to serve others ”.
Can you describe the fields?
“In the beginning the houses were practically mud, now also brick. Then there are always their traditional tents. People are placed in small farming projects, also to keep them busy and improve their nutrition. They have a small economy: they can go out and return to the fields as they want, there are no barbed wire, so they have mobile phones that they buy across the border, they run money. We provide the essentials, for the rest they are managed independently and have a kind of self-government with similar identity documents ".

What is their culture like?
“On the religious front they are largely moderate Muslims. The fear is that the sense of frustration could push the new generations towards extremism but I must say that so far we have not registered any cases. Almost everyone has a smartphone, here is the internet and we also deal with technological education, this to make it clear that they are not at a primitive stage. Obviously we would like to put computers in all elementary classes, it is a goal. Those who work have a small allowance such as teachers, nurses, and there is great solidarity from Spain where in every city there is a real committee. Before Covid, loads of aid arrived from the Iberian peninsula and in the summer the children of the camps were invited to the Spanish summer camps, something that Italy did too, Emilia Romagna in particular ".

Which language do they speak?
"A good part speak Spanish, Arabic, many English, some French which is essential for attending universities, they are very ready to learn".

Why is nobody talking about them?
“Because it is a forgotten situation, they are not 'visible' to the media as is the case with Syrians. We live with the funds of the international community but it is clear that we could have more and do much more for the Sahrawis ”.
Do you feel the society's aversion to them?
“No, Algeria is a huge country and they are in a corner, in a strip of desert. There is great solidarity for this people who were close to the Algerians at the time of the war of independence. There is less tolerance for the mixed migratory movements of other communities coming from the South Sahara, especially recently due to the economic crisis. I have heard the usual phrases 'they come to steal our jobs', but Algeria receives and is at the same time a transit state. Those who arrive hope to go further. And then there are also the Algerians who are trying to reach Sardinia ".
In addition to the crisis, in recent months there has been the Covid emergency, how did you manage it?
“All Sahrawis have had access to vaccination. Obviously we have been able to move less and have limited ourselves to urgent activities. Schools have been closed and other activities suspended. Fortunately, the community was not seriously affected: both for a strictly geographical factor and because there are not many elderly people. However, we are worried and try to convince everyone to get vaccinated ”.

What is their hope?
“To go home, to have independence. It is an intrinsic desire, a bit like that of the Palestinians, for example. They know it will be difficult to get back to their territories but they have no intention of giving up and they don't want to move from the fields ".
What, realistically, do you see in their future?
"Since they do not think of abandoning their situation or even of emigrating perhaps to Europe, it is important that they are prepared and that they have the basis for building a better tomorrow, a proper training that starts with education".
Do we Italians play our part in this affair?
“I think so, I don't know if more can be done. President Sergio Mattarella, when he came here recently, said he would have liked Italy to push for a political solution within the UN and the fact that the new UN special envoy Staffan De Mistura is Italian-Swedish could represent an important fact ".
And what will there be in his future?
“Maybe I'll retire next year. I would like to stop for a while, spend six months in Sardinia and six months traveling. Maybe continue to commit myself to the promotion of cultural exchanges between peoples, especially of the Mediterranean. Encourage dialogue on the bridge of this beautiful sea, so that it returns to being that connection it has always been, in the best sense that can exist ".