Nineteen Moroccan Sahrawis flee Tindouf camps, return to Morocco

Some 19 Moroccan Sahrawis have fled the sequestration camps of Tindouf (southwestern Algeria) and returned to Morocco, in response to the royal call "The country is clement and forgiving."

The defectors, mostly children and women, denounced in statements to the press the dismal living conditions imposed on the sequestered refugees by the separatist Polisario, which claims sovereignty over Morocco's southern provinces.

The separatist group is currently prey to severe conflicts, the returnees said, calling on the international community to intervene to protect the sequestered population and guarantee their return to their homeland, Morocco.

Waves of Sahrawis have fled the Tindouf camps and returned to Morocco over the past years. These included founding members of the Polisario Front.