U.S. NGO denounces illegal detention of Moroccan POWs in Tindouf
Morocco-USA, Politics, 10/7/2004

The American Council for Moroccan POWs (ACMP) has denounced in a release Tuesday the "continuous, illegal and morally reprehensible" detention of Moroccan prisoners in Tinduf (south-western Algeria), in violation of all international conventions.

The Gardena, CA-based organization also called on the South African government to "exert utmost pressure on Algerian authorities, which have the control (of the Tindouf camps), to free, immediately and unconditionally, Moroccan prisoners in these camps and elsewhere on Algerian soil.

Algeria is supporting and harbouring the Polisario separatists, who claim the secession of Morocco's southern provinces, known as the Sahara. This former Spanish colony was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accord.

The ACMP exhorts South Africa to seize the occasion of the visit of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria in Pretoria to remind him of Algeria's obligation vis-ˆ-vis the Moroccan prisoners, in accordance with the Geneva conventions and the international humanitarian law.

South-African authorities should spare no effort to put an end to this shameful and dishonouring chapter of African history, the U.S. NGO went on, stressing that the pitiful "world record" of oldest prisoner in the world no longer belongs to Nelson Mandela, who was jailed under the Apartheid regime, but to hundreds of Moroccan detainees, in the Gulag-style camps of Tinduf.

Moroccans have been held in precarious conditions in the camps of Tinduf, some of them for 28 years. They sustain all sorts of abuses, from forced labor and interrogatories led by Algerian intelligence officers, to torture and arbitrary executions, as reported by human rights organizations such as 'France Libertes'.

The ACMP also launches an "urgent call to president Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, foreign minister, Dlamini Zuma and SA's ambassador to the United States, Barbara Masekela, to see to the settlement of this international humanitarian crisis, and to make justice and equity ideals prevail."

The council also denounces Algeria's policy, consisting in releasing the Moroccan POWs by batches, to benefit from foreign dignitaries' favors and avoid, as long as possible, international criticism.

It also condemns Algeria's deportation of hundreds of Sahrawi children to Cuba, in order to keep hold of their parents in the camps.

Previous Stories:
  U.S. will continue to back reforms in Morocco, official   (10/6/2004)
  Sahara issue should be settled by negotiation between Morocco and Algeria, Ambassador   (10/2/2004)
  Morocco, US officials ponder latest developments of Sahara issue   (8/26/2004)

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