French president hails Morocco's 'bold and exemplary political transition'

French president Jacques Chirac has called for the "immediate and total" release of Moroccan prisoners of War (POWs), held captive for more than a quarter century by the Algerian-backed separatist movement "Polisario" in the Tindouf Camps, southern Algeria.

Speaking at a state banquet hosted in his honor, Thursday evening in Fez (220 Km east of Rabat), by king Mohammed VI, Chirac said the "difficult Sahara issue" is "an obstacle" to the construction of the Arab Maghreb Union.