Moroccan Sahara native flees separatists camps in Algeria
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 6/21/2005

A woman native of the Moroccan Sahara has managed to flee the Polisario-controlled Tindouf camps in southern Algeria where she spent 29 years against her will.

Khouira Bent Fakou returned to Morocco aboard the same plane that carried a group of Spanish Pro-Polisario activists who were expelled Sunday from the southern city of Laayoune because of their support to the separatist group that claims the separation of Morocco's southern provinces -known as the Sahara- from the rest of the kingdom. The former Spanish colony was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords that were signed with Mauritania and Spain.

So far, Moroccan authorities have expelled three Spanish delegations from Laayoune, accusing them of interference in internal affairs.

Bent Fakou, 49, is from the tribe of Oulad Tidrarine. Her return to Morocco is considered as another blow to the thesis of the Algeria-backed separatists.

Previous Stories:
  Upcoming visit of Algerian PM 'untimely', foreign ministry   (6/17/2005)
  La Gazette du Maroc: There would not have been any Polisario without Algeria, researcher   (6/14/2005)
  Jeune Aftrique: Sahara: Minister deems 'democratic solution' autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty   (6/13/2005)

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