The Polisario Front has announced that the first Sahrawi TV channel is to start broadcasting today, coinciding with the beginning of the armed struggle between the pro-independence organization and the Spanish army, on 20 May 1973. RASD-TV, which stands for Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, is to broadcast from Tindouf (South of Algeria), where around 200,000 Sahrawis live in the world's oldest refugee camps.

Its terrestrial signal will be delivered to the camps, while the TV will broadcast via satellite to the rest of Africa, Western Europe and the Middle East. Contents will include documentaries, news and cultural programs. According to AfrolNews, Mohamed Salim Ahmed Labaid, RASD-TV director, said the TV will "break the media blockade suffered by the Western Sahara", and "reinforce the message by the Sahrawi people regarding silenced human rights violations" committed by Moroccan authorities.

As Publico Spanish newspaper reports, the Solidarity with the Sahrawi People organization, with headquarters in Seville (Andalusia, Spain), has funded the TV channel, whilst technology materials have been donated by several channels broadcasting for autonomous communities within Spain.

Further information:

• RASD-TV