ICRC reiterates appeal for release of Moroccan POWs in Algeria
The International Committee of the Red cross (ICRC), has reiterated its appeal for the release "without any delay" of all remaining Moroccan prisoners of war (POWs), held captive by the Algerian-backed separatist movement "Polisario" in Tindouf (Southwestern Algeria).
In a communique released, in Genva Wednesday, the ICRC said it is "very worried" about the health condition of these prisoners, adding that one of its delegations had visited them December 2-6.
According to the Geneva-based humanitarian organization, the delegation members, including a doctor, "have talked individually with 291 of the 614 prisoners still held captives, 188 of whom for more than 20 years."
"The visit aimed at assessing the conditions of their (Moroccan POWs) captivity, the evolution of their physical and mental health condition," the communique underlined.
The ICRC delegation, the communique went on, handed over to the prisoners packs containing blankets, hygienic products as well as medicine. The delegation also collected from the prisoners 1,900 Red Cross messages destined to their families.
In the communique, the ICRC launched an urgent appeal for the release "without any delay" of these prisoners "in accordance with the provisions of the International Humanitarian Law."
Some 300 Moroccan POWs were recently released by the Polisario following a mediation by Libya's leader whose elder son met Algeria's president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Polisario leaders in Algiers.
The separatist movement, claiming independence of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco under the 1975 Madrid Accords, has so far brushed aside all appeals to release the remaining prisoners, held captive despite the ceasefire concluded in 1991 under UN supervision. These appeals have been recently launched by UN Security General Kofi Annan, Western leaders, including US George W. Bush, France's Jacques Chirac and Spain's Jose Maria Aznar, and by many humanitarian organizations, including the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
