International

The trunks of the Saharawi return that stayed in the Tinduf camps

Like all Saharawi refugees, Mestehia Jatri used the zinc sheets that make the roof in the houses of the camps of Tinduf, Algeria, to build her return trunk that would fill with bedens to return in 1992 to her native Western Sahara.

They never returned, but he keeps the ark in the yard of that frustrated longing.

“When they told us (that the referendum was agreed and close to being held) we were very happy and all the families began to assemble the trunks of the return. In each jaima you saw one,” he tells EFE Mestehia in front of his own that contained “that happiness of returning home.”

The trunks that the families kept represented for years in the camps the expected return of the refugee and the promises of independence but, while hope moved away, the needs for a life in exile increased. Most had to recycle the zinc sheets to re-make the roofs.

“Eight years after setting up our return trunk, we recycled it again and there are its veneers,” says the roof of one of his rooms Fatimetu Hamed, a neighbor of Mestehia.

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“The UN has lied to us and left us here as refugees forever,” Fatimetu conveys a feeling of frustration.

Mestehia was born in 1953 in the town of Guelta, in the then Spanish Sahara, and today resides in Smara, one of the five camps built in the Algerian desert in 1975 to house those fleeing violence. Her husband died in the war between the Polisario Front and Morocco in the 1980s.

Like all refugee camps, temporarily provided for being a status that is expected to be transitory, it lacks infrastructure, industries, and its approximately 173,000 inhabitants subsist mainly from humanitarian aid in an environment of adverse climatic conditions.

The Polisario Front, a movement that fights for the independence of Western Sahara, manages these camps from Rabuni, a site that houses the institutions and where the international cooperative members who work throughout the humanitarian network reside without which they could not survive.

“The Saharawis are refugees for a political cause, they are here because their land is occupied and because the UN has not yet fulfilled its promise to resolve their conflict by holding the referendum,” says in an interview with EFE Buhubeini Yahya, president of the Saharawi Red Crescent, the main humanitarian organization in the camps.

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“The humanitarian situation is very serious and is in a continuous deterioration due to the fall in funds,” says Yahya, who lists the cuts in the basic basket or the increase in the levels of malnutrition and anemia among women and children.

It foresees a few months of red alert “if the contributions of the donor countries are not increased.”

It was the year 1991 when Mestehia built his trunk shortly after the ceasefire that gave a truce to 15 years of war, since Spain withdrew in 1975 from its former colony and Morocco entered to control the territory that it now maintains under its dominion.

January 26, 1992 was the date set to hold a referendum of self-determination, eternally postponed.

The call was suspended due to the discrepancies between the parties – Polisario Front and Morocco – about the census and the lists of people eligible to vote. Despite the attempts of the UN and its established mission to organize and supervise the vote (MINURSO), there has been no agreement since then.

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Morocco later definitively dislinked and in 2007 presented to the UN its proposal for autonomy within the Moroccan borders to resolve the conflict, a proposal praised by its main ally, France, and lately supported by the Spanish Government.

However, the Polisario categorically rejects it and maintains its commitment to the vote.

“We were very happy to hear that news (in 1991). The feeling of returning home and to our land, to reunite with our relatives who stayed in the Western Sahara,” Mestehia recalls.

They filled the trunks with food, clothes and the few possessions they had in humble jaimas, more designed to cope with the way back; but there was no return: “The trunks stayed here,” he says.

One more year, International Refugee Day has passed but the return continues to fly over the camps: “It is true that at another time it was much closer, but we continue to firmly believe that independence will come, as long as we continue to breathe and live, that dream will remain,” Mestehia sighs.

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International

Police investigate deaths of Rob Reiner and wife as apparent homicide

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is investigating the deaths of Hollywood actor and filmmaker Rob Reinerand his wife as an “apparent homicide,” amid a wave of tributes to the director of classics such as When Harry Met Sally.

According to U.S. media reports on Sunday, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead at their Los Angeles mansion with what appeared to be stab wounds.

Several political figures shared messages of condolence following the reported deaths of the director of A Few Good Menand his wife.

While the LAPD did not officially confirm the identities of the victims, it stated that homicide detectives were dispatched to the Reiner residence.

“At this time, no additional details are available and the investigation into an apparent homicide is ongoing,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement posted on social media.

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LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton told reporters that no arrests have been made and that no individuals are currently being questioned as suspects.

“I’m not going to confirm whether anyone is being questioned at this moment or not. We are going to try to speak with as many family members as we can,” Hamilton said.

CNN reported that a family spokesperson confirmed the deaths of Reiner and his wife.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, former U.S. President Barack Obama, and former Vice President Kamala Harrisissued statements expressing their condolences.

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International

U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty

The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.

The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.

Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.

“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.

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The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.

Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.

Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.

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International

Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus

Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.

“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.

At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.

After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.