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Graham, pictured in Glenabo with his children Molly (8), Aoife (6) and Aodhan (3).

A Fermoy-based journalist will arrive in the Sahara desert this week to report on the plight of Saharan refugees who, for 40 years, have been living near the isolated town of Tindouf in Western Algeria.

Graham Clifford, originally from Glenbeigh in Co Kerry, secured funding for the project under the Simon Cumbers Media Fund and will be accompanied on the trip by feature photographer, Clare Keogh.

Reporting from the camps where up to 100,000 people currently live, for the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent, Graham will also produce a World Report for RTE Radio 1 and contribute to a number of RTE Radio 1 programmes while in the Tindouf camps.

“The refugees would have originally been nomadic and in the '70’s were driven out of their native country, Western Sahara, by incoming Moroccan forces. Here, in temperatures which exceed 50 degrees, there is no water and no electricity. The dwellings are humble, the food little and their plight great,” Graham explained to The Avondhu this week before leaving for the Sahara.

The father of three has reported from Ethiopia, Kosovo and Montserrat in the past but said this trip will represent his 'greatest challenge yet'.

“Living in any refugee camp would be difficult but in such heat I expect it to be especially uncomfortable and challenging. But we are determined to tell the world the story of the children within this camp who get little or no fresh vegetables or fruit to eat and who are often sick,” he said.

Western Sahara is often described as Africa’s last colony and Ireland, along with other UN member States, has called on the Moroccan government to allow a referendum in the disputed territory.

To date, that referendum has not been granted and as the sands of time tick by in the desert, the refugees wait for progress that seems so slow coming.

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