Algeria’s Dual-Funding Scheme Fuels Extremism: From “Holidays in Peace” to Boumerdès University… A Hidden Plot to Threaten Europe’s Security from Tindouf

ALDAR/

As the international community continues to call for the drying up of extremism’s sources, Spanish field reports and media outlets—including La Vanguardia—reveal alarming roles played by Algeria in supporting separatist agendas with extremist overtones. Chief among these is the direct funding of programs disguised as humanitarian initiatives, which are in fact used to recruit loyalists to the Polisario Front and later turn them into tools threatening both regional and international security.

One such program is “Holidays in Peace,” long marketed as a humanitarian initiative allowing Spanish families to host children from the Tindouf camps during the summer holidays. However, Spanish intelligence reports have disclosed that a number of former beneficiaries of this program have since become radicalized and gone on to join terrorist groups active in the Sahel region, with some even involved in plots threatening Europe’s stability.

What makes this particularly dangerous is that these individuals, raised in an environment steeped in separatist ideology, were given the opportunity to integrate into Spanish society, which granted them a deep familiarity with its language and culture. This insider knowledge has been exploited by extremist groups to carry out or plan attacks using the “lone wolf” model.

Yet this is only the visible face of a broader and coordinated system backed by Algeria to fuel regional conflicts and destabilize European security. Alongside the “Holidays in Peace” program, Algeria also annually funds what is known as the “Summer University of Boumerdès,” a mobilization and indoctrination platform dedicated to inciting Polisario members and instilling a hostile narrative towards Europe—especially Spain—while promoting extremist expansion in the Sahel.

Spanish media sources confirm that this summer university serves as a platform to ideologically train Polisario youth and recruit them into a political and security project that threatens stability across the Mediterranean basin and West Africa—closely intersecting with the activities of terrorist groups operating in lawless and porous-border regions.

In light of this situation, voices are growing louder within European circles calling for a comprehensive review of programs that host children or young people from the Tindouf camps, urging a security-aware approach—especially in light of mounting evidence pointing to serious infiltration and the misuse of humanitarian aid to advance hostile agendas against European nations.

Pending a firm international response, the responsibility of monitoring and countering these threats remains a collective one—demanding greater intelligence and security coordination among European capitals to safeguard their internal stability and the integrity of humanitarian initiatives.