Moroccan, European talks on Moroccan POWs in tindouf

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abdelouahed Radi, held talks here on Thursday with European parliament speaker, Pat Cox, on the fate of hundreds of Moroccan POWs detained in Tindouf camps (southwestern Algeria).

The issue, already discussed in several occasions in the European parliament, will be evoked time and again because of its human character, explained Radi at the end of his meeting with Cox that took place on the sidelines of the follow-up of the Euro-Mediterranean Forum.

The Polisario, an Algeria-backed secessionist movement, continues to hold 1,160 prisoners of war, some of whom have been in detention for more than 20 years. Several countries and international organizations have repeatedly called for the release of Moroccan prisoners that the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) called the world's longest-serving POWs.

In their capacities of co-chairmen of the forum, Radi and Cox also examined the transformation of the Euro-Mediterranean body into a Euro-Mediterranean parliamentary assembly devoted to provide the partnership between the European Union and Mediterranean countries with an efficient tool to nurture dialogue.

The meeting also tackled the evolution of cooperation between the European Union and countries of the south of the Mediterranean and the situation in the Middle-East.

The Brussels encounter will prepare for the upcoming meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Forum scheduled next October in Greece.