Since its creation, the regional television channel of Laâyoune has experienced numerous upheavals.

The channel's management has often been pointed at and denounced. But it has, until now, managed to overcome its torments, the most significant of which was the standoff that pitted it against the powerful Hamdi Ould Errachid, who had pulled every string to have the channel's director, Larhdaf Eddah, sanctioned. This is, moreover, what led some local observers to say that the latter enjoyed high-level protection.

The arrival, scheduled for Wednesday, of an inquiry commission chaired by Guejmoula Bent Ebbi is said to be the reason for the postponement of the director's departure for holidays abroad, who was, according to sources close to the channel, supposed to travel to the USA where he had made a habit of spending his annual holidays.

It should be noted that several voices have been raised recently, particularly after the departure of the group of three heads of the channel's most important departments – production, news, and programmes – following disagreements with the director. These voices accuse the director of favouring production companies to which he has delegated the majority of programmes, to the detriment of others that could have been more efficient and less costly. Some have also requested an audit of the channel, which is failing to accomplish the mission for which it was created. Some, including associative actors and elected officials, are asking for the channel's management to be reviewed and for material and human resources to be allocated to it before sanctioning its management.

According to our sources, Sahrawi associative actors and human rights defenders reproach the channel for its passivity. These same actors reproach the channel for not involving them in the design of programmes to combat separatism.