French president for immediate and total release of Moroccan pows held by Polisario

French president Jacques Chirac called for the "immediate and total release" of the 1,160 Moroccan pows still held by the Polisario in the Algerian southwestern camps of Tindouf.

The French president, presently on a state visit to Algeria, told Algerian dailies "El Watan" and "El Khabar," "the release of these prisoners is an obligation under international law."

Of the Sahara issue, he urged for "a realistic settlement between parties, in the framework of the United Nations Organization, to find a way out to this conflict that is delaying the Maghreban integration. The French president insisted that the issue is important for the stability and development of the whole Maghreb region and that France and Algeria are holding, in total friendship and trust, dialogue on the issue.

He said that while his country is not entitled to give its point of view on the latest proposal by the UN secretary general's personal envoy, the proposal deserves to be carefully examined.

For Chirac, "a deep dialogue between Morocco and Algeria is needed to move forward to a solution" over the Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975. An Algeria-backed separatist movement is claiming the independence of this territory.