From 17–27 April 2001, the author visited the Sahrawi refugee camps and the northern sector of the Western Sahara territory under Polisario control (the region surrounding the town of Bir Lahlou and Tifariti near Tindouf, Algeria). The author previously visited the Sahrawi refugee camps in 1997, and is planning a visit to the area under Moroccan control in the autumn of 2001.