Sahrawi repression victims want light shed on missing persons
Morocco-Italy, Politics, 10/3/2003

An association representing persons who were victims of repression in Polisario-controlled Tindouf camps launched on Thursday an urgent appeal to humanitarian organizations to help in shedding light on the whereabouts of those still missing and unaccounted for or in detention in these prisons.

Chairman of the association, himself a former prisoner in the camps, El Houcine Baida, said all the world organizations active in the respect of right and justice and advocating human rights should act to obtain from the Polisario chiefs and Algerian officials clear answers on the fate of a large number of these people held captive.

There is a great number of persons whose fate is unknown and their relatives are worried, said Baida, who is member of a delegation of representatives of the Saharan provinces populations currently touring Italy, at a meeting with chairman of UFTDU, an Italian human rights-advocacy NGO founded in 1968 by a group of magistrates, attorneys and university professors. He also narrated to the Italian NGO his own plight in a jail and he was keen to be part of the delegation in order to unveil the horrendous and inhumane practices against Moroccans who have been sequestered for over three decades in the shameful camps of Tindouf, in southern Algeria.

The former prisoner also said the association is not against the dispatching of humanitarian assistance to the camps, provided that the donor organizations monitor the aid distribution and makes sure that it reaches people who need it instead of being embezzled to enrich the "Polisario mercenaries."

The delegation also brought up the tragedy of Moroccan military prisoners, the world's longest-held POWs, and the degrading and inhuman practices they are subjected to. The latest report by French "France-Libertes" human rights organization has reported in detail the harsh detention conditions in the Tindouf camps.

The Italian association promised it would spare no effort to settle the problems of Moroccans held in the Tindouf camps, especially those whose fate is unknown.

The delegation will also meet on Friday the Italian press and hold a conference at the European parliament's section in Rome.

Previous Stories:
  Italian NGO vows to unveil human rights violations by Polisario   (10/2/2003)
  Sahrawi delegation in Rome to promote national cause   (9/30/2003)
  Moroccan FM holds talks with Italian peer   (6/6/2003)

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