Two Moroccans repatriated

2005-01-22 21:02

Geneva - The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday it had repatriated two Moroccans held by the Polisario Front but expressed concern at the condition of more than 400 prisoners of the Western Sahara independence movement.

The "seriously ill" prisoners were collected from a Polisario camp in Tindouf in southern Algeria by an ICRC-hired aircraft specially equipped for medical transport and taken to Marrakesh in Morocco where they were handed over to the authorities, an ICRC statement said.

The repatriation was agreed between the Polisario Front and an ICRC medical doctor working as part of the team currently visiting the imprisoned Moroccans, it said.

"The ICRC welcomes the release of the two prisoners. It nevertheless remains concerned about the deteriorating health of the 410 Moroccans still in captivity and reiterates its call for their release, in accordance with international humanitarian law," the statement added.

ICRC delegates generally visit the Moroccan prisoners of the Polisario Front twice a year in order to assess the conditions in which they are held and their physical and mental health.

A Moroccan foreign ministry statement also welcomed the release and thanked the ICRC for its intervention.

Morocco "calls on the international community to apply more pressure on the parties responsible for this situation," it said, adding that Rabat "strongly condemns the maintenance in captivity of 410 prisoners in flagrant violation of international law."

Morocco annexed Western Sahara after former colonial ruler Spain pulled out of the large, phosphate-rich desert territory in 1975, despite a World Court ruling in favour of autonomy for the territory.

The Polisario Front took up arms for independence the following year, and later declared a self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which is recognised by the African Union but not the United Nations.

A truce is now in effect but UN efforts to resolve the situation have stalled since Morocco refused a plan under which Western Sahara would enjoy a large degree of autonomy during a five-year transition period followed by a referendum on self-rule.

- AFP