France calls for release of all Moroccan pows
Morocco-France, Politics, 2/14/2003

France called this Thursday for the release of all Moroccan prisoners of war still held by the Algeria-backed secessionist "Polisario" movement.

"Like its European partners and the entire international community, France deems that in compliance with international humanitarian law, the Polisario front should carry on and release all Moroccan prisoners," said spokesman of the French foreign ministry, Francois Rivasseau.

France welcomed the announcement that the Polisario will be releasing 100 Moroccan prisoners of war but insisted on the settlement of "all humanitarian aspects" of the Sahara issue and on the need to distinguish between humanitarian aspects and the quest of a political solution.

Some 1,160 Moroccans are still held, some of them for more than 25 years, in the Polisario prisons in southern Algerian, despite repeated calls by the UN Secretary general and human rights organizations for the unconditional liberation of the "world's oldest prisoners of war."

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