Hundreds of families arrive in Agadir to meet freed Moroccan POWs

[LalaMimi]

By Karima Rhanem | Morocco TIMES 8/19/2005 | 7:26 pm


Agadir---Hundreds of families of the 404 Moroccan POWs', who were freed on Thursday after being held by the Polisario Front for more than two decades in Tindouf camps, have arrived Friday morning to south Agadir to meet their relatives at the military base.

POWs' families, who came from different parts of Morocco, burst in tears as they were waiting to meet their relatives after years of separation. Overwhelmed with joy, the families could not yet believe they will meet them.

Mustapha Hamidouch, a 17 year-old boy, was standing anxiously next to his mother and sister, waiting for the door to be opened to see his father that he has never seen since his birth. He could barely recognize him through the pictures.

Khadija Darij, mother in-law of Officer Boujemaâ Al Mansouri, who was detained in 1979 at the age of 25, said that the family has endured a lot after Boujemaâ's detention. She added that after the release of the last soldiers in the past three years, the family have been commuting between Meknes and Agadir for the hope of knowing that their relative is still alive.

Lamini Abdullah, a former detainee in Tindouf, who was released in September 2003, told Morocco Times in a phone conversation that he couldn't believe he will meet his friends again.

“I feel I can jump from joy, I can't believe it. It is the first time prisoners were freed all at once. I feel I am happier than when I was freed myself,” said Lamini.

Lamini, who spent more than 22 years in Tindouf camps, said that he and the 2,100 former POWs have endured difficult circumstances. These included hunger, lack of medical care, spread of diseases, and torture.

Lamini, who was detained in 1980, said he still find it difficult to integrate in the society.

“I think anybody who has been detained in Tindouf will spend the rest of his life under the atrocities in which he had lived in the camps. I have seen scenes of torture, people burnt alive or beaten to death. Most of us suffer from psychological problems. But thank God we came back to our country,” he added.

Lamini thinks that the Moroccan authorities will now quadruple their efforts to take care of the detainees after their unconditional release. Though Lamini still feel marginalized, he hopes that the 404 POWs released yesterday will have better future than those who were released earlier as many of them were civilians not soldiers.

Lamini has written a book called “Terror”, in which he described the inhuman conditions in which the Moroccans POWs lived in the harsh and hostile environment in the Tindouf camps, southwest Algeria.

An Italian doctor who accompanied the prisoners told Morocco Times that “most of the freed prisoners are injured and suffer from dangerous psychological and physical problems resulting from the war, torture and permanent forced work in prison. Most of them wasted their youth in prison, as they do not exceed the 50's.”

The doctor added that some of the detainees suffer from asthma, diabetes, and rheumatism.

Yesterday, the two planes carrying the Moroccan's POWs arrived at Al Massira airport in Agadir at 8.00 pm. The prisoners were received by US Senator Richard Green Lugar, US General James L. Jones, Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa, Moroccan General Bennani, and Moroccan Interior Minister, Al Mustapha Sahel.

The world's longest-serving Prisoners of War have been freed yesterday thanks to the efforts of the US government.

The Minister of Communication said “Morocco expresses thanks to the United States of America for its contribution to the process of the liberation of Moroccans POWs”.

“The United States of America had also offered its help to facilitate the release by sending 4 planes to carry the Moroccan POWs back home,” added the minister.

The joy was obviously overwhelming. The prisoners, who were accompanied by two doctors for medical care, burst in tears; others were even kissing the ground.

Five detainees were immediately transferred to the military hospital for immediate care. Others were taken to the military base where they will meet their families.

The detainees were warmly welcomed back home. For this occasion, Morocco expressed its joy for the release of the 404 detainees and thanks for the US contribution to this memorable event.

In the meantime, Spanish government hoped Thursday that the release of the remaining Moroccan Prisoners of War would create new dynamics for the settlement of the Sahara issue.

Madrid has applauded the liberation of the 404 Moroccan POWs from Tindouf Camps, in southwest Algeria, as “humanitarian gesture,” in a communiqué issued by the Ministry of foreign affairs.

Amnesty International (AI) also welcomes the release of prisoners, who remained in detention for more than 15 years, after the formal cessation of hostilities between Morocco and the Polisario Front. AI had repeatedly called for the release of these prisoners.

However, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), some 250 Moroccans are still missing in connection with the conflict, which started in 1975 when Morocco annexed the territory of the Sahara.

In this regard, the ICRC vowed to pursue its efforts to ensure that the fate of all those reported missing in connection with the Sahara conflict is established.

It promised that “families suffering the uncertainty of not knowing what has happened to their relatives finally obtain this information.”

Meanwhile, the United States urged Morocco and Algeria to re-engage in efforts to resolve the Sahara dispute, following the release of the last Moroccan prisoners from the 16-year war.

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar witnessed the release in Agadir and told a press conference he was assigned the task of liberating the Moroccan prisoners on behalf of George W. Bush, adding that his job was to free the Moroccan POWs, detained for more than 20 years, by all means possible.

Lugar, who was received today, together with the US General James L. Jones and the US Ambassador to Morocco Thomas Riley by HM King Mohammed VI at the Royal Palace in Tetouan, said he was proud of managing to free the Moroccan POWs who were the longest-serving prisoners in the world. He also expressed his happiness with the Polisario Front's cooperation in putting an end to this issue.

[NAK__-KKK]

the king should have been there in personn to receive them to hug them one by one and give them financial aid !!!! yet I did not see him around , whatta a shame ...those are our heroes and we should do whatever it takes to relief them ..the king stays in his palace in Tetuan awaiting for the senator to pay him a visit , how rude ?!?!?! moreover our king does not speak good english and needed a translator in order to speak with the american senator !!!! how disapointing when we know that he was taught languages and was prepared for the job of king since he was born...this is highly disapointing ..the king should give himself a shake , I am starting to get disapointed , or at least he should step down and leave the ministers do theire jobs .....

[Bond]

Originally posted by NAK__-KKK
the king should have been there in personn to receive them to hug them one by one and give them financial aid !!!! yet I did not see him around , whatta a shame ...those are our heroes and we should do whatever it takes to relief them ..the king stays in his palace in Tetuan awaiting for the senator to pay him a visit , how rude ?!?!?! moreover our king does not speak good english and needed a translator in order to speak with the american senator !!!! how disapointing when we know that he was taught languages and was prepared for the job of king since he was born...this is highly disapointing ..the king should give himself a shake , I am starting to get disapointed , or at least he should step down and leave the ministers do theire jobs .....

Are you saying that you are led by an idiot king? If so, welcome to the 21st century. If it's any consolation to you, we (Algerians) are also led by an idiot midget.

Regarding the Western Sahara issue, I hope that Morocco will now see sense and grant the Sahrawis their independence because otherwise the longer this problems persists the worse it gets for everybody especially for Morocco.

I am so happy to see the price of the baril of oil go up and up because this means good news for Algeria and very bad news for Morocco.

[NAK__-KKK]

Originally posted by Bond

Are you saying that you are led by an idiot king? If so, welcome to the 21st century. If it's any consolation to you, we (Algerians) are also led by an idiot midget.

Regarding the Western Sahara issue, I hope that Morocco will now see sense and grant the Sahrawis their independence because otherwise the longer this problems persists the worse it gets for everybody especially for Morocco.

I am so happy to see the price of the baril of oil go up and up because this means good news for Algeria and very bad news for Morocco.

you are deadly misunformed ...everything is fine in Morocco ...it is your saharaouis who are rotten under the sun in Tinduf and surviving on international charity ... ....the longer it takes the better is for us , because everybody knows now that we will never leave our land , the sahara is being irreverssibly moroccanized everyday that passes...you can keep on dreaming ...as for oil ..well not all that shines is gold , do not be so optimistic about Algeria certainly it is good news for Boutef and the 40 generals-crooks not for algerian economy or algerian people, all over the world , oil has brought only wars , bloodsheds and economiees 100% oil dependants !!!! as to the madness that we see today in oil prices , well I do not thing the globalist elites who are rulling this world wanted to give a favoure to the oil arab countries like yours , theire plans are others , and we certainly will see in the short run that they do not give free gifts ...with todays prices the develloped countries start encouraging alternative energy resources , and even USA start boosting hybride cars sales ..the madness won't last for ever , it is just a matter of time and a solution will be found ...

[Bond]

Originally posted by NAK__-KKK

you are deadly misunformed ...everything is fine in Morocco ...it is your saharaouis who are rotten under the sun in Tinduf and surviving on international charity ... ....the longer it takes the better is for us , because everybody knows now that we will never leave our land , the sahara is being irreverssibly moroccanized everyday that passes...you can keep on dreaming ...as for oil ..well not all that shines is gold , do not be so optimistic about Algeria certainly it is good news for Boutef and the 40 generals-crooks not for algerian economy or algerian people, all over the world , oil has brought only wars , bloodsheds and economiees 100% oil dependants !!!! as to the madness that we see today in oil prices , well I do not thing the globalist elites who are rulling this world wanted to give a favoure to the oil arab countries like yours , theire plans are others , and we certainly will see in the short run that they do not give free gifts ...with todays prices the develloped countries start encouraging alternative energy resources , and even USA start boosting hybride cars sales ..the madness won't last for ever , it is just a matter of time and a solution will be found ...

I agree that corruption is a big problem especially in the third world. However and is spite of it, this is a very good opportunity for oil producing countries to sort out their debts as well as resolve some of the thorny issues of housing and general infrastructure (construction of roads, rail tracks, reservoirs, desalination plants etc...) IF they proceed in a well thought out manner.

For the foreseable future, the price of the baril of oil is probably going to stabilize at around $50 which is still very good news for the oil producing countries. The renewable sources of energy are still inefficient in comparison and even with heavy investment it will take a long time before they are worth considering.

In the case of Algeria, I am not very optimistic with Bouteflika and his clan because simply he is a fu****g control freak who does not believe in transparent governments and spends his time on jolly trips abroad when he is not jailing journalists for daring to investigate him and his corrupt lot.

[NAK__-KKK]

Boutef has sold out all algerian oil and gaz to the americans hoping to have theirre support against Morocco ...a lost cause of course because in the best of cases American will stay neutral with a slide support for long date ally Morocco ( also because of the pressure of moroccan jews ) jews are more powerfull than the oil at the end , and Algeria mistreated and expelled its jews to France , Morocco did the other way around , and today even algerian jews in France are supporting Morocco against the algerian regime ( shall I mention for an example Jacque Attali the former Mitterand councelor and the real shadowy power under his reign) anyway dude do not be so optimistic about the algerian economy because of the high oil prices , at most the unemployement will decrease from today's 30% to 20% ...what would you expect from a president like Boutef who is stealing even pubblic fountains and taking them to its ranch in Abu Dhabi (UAE) ...the algerian economy and politics will keep on being controlled by the same military generals which will have more money and more power to enslave the people , they will keep on buying russian junk and depositing theire money in swiss banks , nobody can last in power and they know it so they are ready to flee the country to France or Swizerland with as much money as they can ...the average algerian will not benifit from oil prices no matter how high they will get ...stop on dreaming dude !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you see the difference between us and you , is that we have one single crook on power who is already super rich , while you have many different crooks on power who come and go not that rich and not long on power , so each crook on power will do its best to get rich ...and that's why the average moroccan is way better off than the average algerian , no matter how much oil you will have ....

[Bond]

Originally posted by NAK__-KKK
Boutef has sold out all algerian oil and gaz to the americans hoping to have theirre support against Morocco ...a lost cause of course because in the best of cases American will stay neutral with a slide support for long date ally Morocco ( also because of the pressure of moroccan jews ) jews are more powerfull than the oil at the end , and Algeria mistreated and expelled its jews to France , Morocco did the other way around , and today even algerian jews in France are supporting Morocco against the algerian regime ( shall I mention for an example Jacque Attali the former Mitterand councelor and the real shadowy power under his reign) anyway dude do not be so optimistic about the algerian economy because of the high oil prices , at most the unemployement will decrease from today's 30% to 20% ...what would you expect from a president like Boutef who is stealing even pubblic fountains and taking them to its ranch in Abu Dhabi (UAE) ...the algerian economy and politics will keep on being controlled by the same military generals which will have more money and more power to enslave the people , they will keep on buying russian junk and depositing theire money in swiss banks , nobody can last in power and they know it so they are ready to flee the country to France or Swizerland with as much money as they can ...the average algerian will not benifit from oil prices no matter how high they will get ...stop on dreaming dude !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you see the difference between us and you , is that we have one single crook on power who is already super rich , while you have many different crooks on power who come and go not that rich and not long on power , so each crook on power will do its best to get rich ...and that's why the average moroccan is way better off than the average algerian , no matter how much oil you will have ....

You are painting a doomsday scenario dude which is far from reality. In Algeria things will not get worse than what they were in the 90s under the threat of the barbaric muslim extremists. In time, these will be eradicated completely and with the steps being currently taken to open up Algeria to international business I think Algeria has every chance of becoming a shining example of progress unequalled in the third world.

As for Morocco, let me tell you the picture is not very rosy. You country cannot soly rely on tourism and the sale of agricultural produce to keep afloat because the competition in those areas are very stiff indeed. Europe does not need your agriculture and the tourism industry is being developed in many other countries.

About 4 weeks ago, the BBC showed a program on El Qaida presence in Morocco and I was shocked to see the terrible poverty in the suburbs of Casablanca, Tangiers and other places. I have seen poverty in Algeria but never to that extent. Algeria will shortly launch a "Marshall Plan" to not only create jobs but to try to eradicate poverty because of the oil/gas windfall. Morocco cannot do that and its economy will stagnate. But don't worry, Algeria will always welcome Moroccan workers to participate in its economic boom.