Polisario jails survivors call Annan to shed light on missing persons' fate

An association of survivors of Polisario Jails (ASOCAPO) have called U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to use his "influence and prestige" to shed light on the fate of people reported missing in the jails of the separatist group in Tindouf (southwestern Algeria).

The ASOCAPO voiced wish --in an open letter to Annan, a copy of which was sent to MAP's bureau in Madrid-- that the upcoming tour James Baker, personal envoy of the U.N. secretary-general, will make in the region would be crowned with success and that he would intervene with the Polisario leadership to make known the fate of 116 people reported missing in the Polisario jails.

Baker is expected to tour North Africa shortly in a bid to pull out the U.N. settlement plan for the Sahara from a deadlock situation.

The plan provides for a referendum to determine whether the Sahara --a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords-- sets up on its own as claimed by the Polisario or remains part of Morocco. The vote is stalled due to disputes over the composition of the electoral rolls.

The association, which says that it has no link whatsoever with either of the two parties (Morocco, Polisario), called on the separatists to live up to a commitment made by their leader, Mohamed Abdelaziz, in 1991 to make public the list of people who perished in his movement's jails.

"The parents and friends of these victims have the right to know the truth on their disappearance," said ASOCAPO, which also claims information on three persons recently reported missing in the Tindouf camps. These are Hatar Boujemaa Boutabaa, Ahmed Mohamed Radi and Mehdi Ismael Soueyah.