Fourth operation of family visits between Moroccan Sahara natives

The fourth UN-sponsored operation of family visits between natives of the Moroccan Sahara, took place this Friday, between the "Polisario"-controlled camps in Tindouf (southwestern Algeria) and the southern Moroccan city of Laayoune.

This operation is carried out by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as part of the "confidence-building measures" to allow these families visit each other after being separated for nearly three decades due to the dispute over the future of what is known as Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords signed with Spain and Mauritania.

The "Polisario," a separatist movement backed by Algeria, has, since then, been claiming independence of this territory.

This fourth operation concerned 8 families made up of 23 people who flew to Tindouf aboard a plane made available by the United Nations Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara known by its French acronym MINURSO.

While they were visiting their families held against their will in those camps, the same plane brought to Laayoune 11 families (27 people) to visit their relatives on the Moroccan side.

The UNHCR recently said that there was a growing demand among the camps populations to take part in this family visit program with at least 1,400 who have so far applied.

According to UNHCR spokesman, Ron Redmond, the flights to and from Laayoune will continue until the end of March before organizing other flights to and from Dakhla (the Southern provinces largest city) and eventually Smara and Boujdour.

Visits are currently confined to five days, but Redmond said that UNHCR and MINURSO will eventually "try to accommodate individual family situations and perhaps exceptionally allow the extension of stays for humanitarian reasons."