More people flee Tindouf sequestration camps
Morocco, Politics, 1/18/2001

A new 21-member group of Moroccan sahrawis who were sequestered in the polisario-controlled camps in Tindouf (south-western Algeria) and who returned to their motherland Tuesday denounced "the lies used by the mercenaries to mislead them."

The group including elderly, children and women denounced "the polisario mercenaries maneuvers to distort history and historical evidences to Morocco's legitimate sovereignty over its southern provinces."

The men and women described the daily inhuman ordeal, "the deteriorating social and health situation in the hell of the camps where the most basic requirements to a decent life are lacking."

Sheikh Khatri Ould Said Al-Arbi said the "Sahrawi entity is based on the whims of those who created and who continue to embezzle humanitarian assistance and to pile up wealth at the expenses of sufferings of people detained."

Young Maa El Ainain Ould Abdallah said how "separatists used intimidation and detention to silence opposition. The oppression practiced in the camps of humiliation and shame cannot by any way weaken the sequestered persons' determination to return home. This return is the only goal sought," he said.

The group members launched a call to the high commissioner for refugees and to the international community to seriously address the intolerable situation of people detained in Tindouf, save these victims of injustice, repression, abuses and poverty and to enable them return to their homeland.

They also called on their relatives still detained by the polisario not to yield to resignation, to resist the mercenaries and to struggle against the repression they are inflicted.

Another group of 34 members, including youth and children, succeeded to escape the camps and to return home three weeks ago.

Last summer 299 supervisors who were accompanying children from the Tindouf camps on holidays in Spain defected and remained in Spain, reported a non-governmental organization "The Moroccan Sahara," in a statement by its section in Spain. The media described the defection of these 299 supervisors out of 316 as a serious blow to the polisario, MAP reported.

Previous Stories:
  84% of al-Jazeera polled support sahara as Moroccan territory   (1/17/2001)
  Khaddafi, King Mohammed hold talks in Tripoli   (1/16/2001)
  Morocco - France, exceptional ties, renovated partnership, says ambassador   (1/12/2001)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search