By Isha Sesay • Published: 30 Nov 2019 • 21:41
ARRIVALS: Joan Antoni Pascual with his medical team at Son Sant Joan airport. Credit: P. Pellicer.
A GROUP of aid workers who spent 2 weeks in the Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, have returned safely to Mallorca, Spain. After the Spanish Government issued a warning of the serious possibility of a terror attack against Spanish citizens travelling to the camps last week, the 11 volunteers were forced to come back, receiving a warm welcome at Palma’s Son Sant Joan airport. The group were made up of residents from Son Espases, Son Llàtzer and Inca and included 3 urologists, 2 anaesthetists, 4 nurses and an electro-medical engineer. Speaking at the arrivals lounge, Joan Antoni Pascual, the Coordinator of the medical project, said that the announcement of the impending attack came as a surprise to the group and was simply an “attempt by the Moroccan government to destabilise the area and create fear and confusion among the local and foreign population.” Catalina Rosselló, the President of the Mallorca Association of Friends of the Saharawi People, reaffirmed Pascual’s beliefs, stating that the terror warning has only stopped “planes full of people who want to support those that need help.” Dozens of Spaniards work in the camps situated in south-western Algeria, while many others travel each year to visit Saharawi families and friends. The camps house some 100,000 people who have been displaced, with Islamic State extremists operating in the region.
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