Polisario Front to free all remaining Moroccan POWs

[brim]

"We have decided to settle as quickly as possible the problem of the Moroccan prisoners who we are still holding. We must bring it to an end and work towards their release. We will inform the ICRC [the International Committee of the Red Cross & Red Crescent] and arrange with them the technical details of their release", said Mohamed Abdelaziz, head of the Polisario Front, in the French newspaper Le Monde on 14th July.




The Polisario Front currently holds 408 Moroccan soldiers as POWs. At the ceasefire in 1991, the Front held over 2200 POWs, and has released 1800 in groups since then. Throughout the 1990s the Moroccan government denied their existence and several times refused to accept the return of its soldiers on their release. However, since the new King Mohamed VI came to power, the Moroccan regime has begun to aggressively campaign for the release of the POWs and denouncing the Polisario for holding them. This concern does not always extend as far as helping them settle back into Moroccan society, and many have complained about the difficulties and poverty they face on return from their ordeal. The strategy has merely been to divert attention from the hundreds of “disappeared” and tortured Saharawis whose existence it still denies by focussing on these prisoners, whose existence the Polisario have always been quite open about.




Amnesty International and the ICRC have persistently asked for the release of the POWs since the ceasefire. While some Saharawis have felt that the holding of POWs should not be controversial while the conflict is unresolved, and pointed out that had Morocco stuck to the timetable of the original peace plan the POWs release would have come more than a decade ago, others and many supporters of the Saharawi cause felt that they should be released and returned to their families, whether as a gesture of humanitarian goodwill or an obligation under human rights conventions. The news of their imminent release should be welcomed by human rights activists and all supporters of Saharawi independence; it is good that some of the people who have suffered in the Western Sahara conflict will finally get to return to their homes and families. But the struggle for the Saharawis to also return to their homes and live in freedom goes on. Those around the world who have campaigned for the POWs release should now focus their efforts on ensuring justice is done for everyone.

[Bond]

I think they are making a mistake. They should let them rot in jail until the Western Sahara is freed.

[brim]

Bond, your assessment is completely mad. This way the onus is shifted to Ranat. The Saharawis have done all that is required of them. Maroc looved them holding those prisoners. It was the big stick with which to beat them. Now Rabat has lost that edge.

[Bond]

Originally posted by brim
Bond, your assessment is completely mad. This way the onus is shifted to Ranat. The Saharawis have done all that is required of them. Maroc looved them holding those prisoners. It was the big stick with which to beat them. Now Rabat has lost that edge.

Sorry I disagree with you. Morocco will only ever understand force to budge. Look how it behaved when threatened by Spain over the Perejil island: like a woman.

I think Algeria should provide the POLISARIO fighters with as much military assistance as possible and urge them to renew the military struggle. After all these people have been living in refugee camps in Algeria for 30 years. NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE TO RELIEVE THEIR PLIGHT.

You talk about Moroccan prisoners being released but do you know that the Sahrawis under occupation are being thrown in jail and tortured for the slightest show of dissent.

LONG LIVE THE POLISARIO.