Istiqlal Party: Lemrabet's statements on Sahara profit only to Algeria

Secretary General of the Istiqlal Party (PI), Abbas El Fassi, said the statements of journalist Ali Lemrabet on Sahrawi populations in Tindouf camps will only profit to one party, Algeria.

El Fassi noted in a statement on Sunday to the Moroccan channel TV 'TVM" that the voice of the whole Moroccan people has raised against Lemrabet, including "our co-citizens in the Sahara who refuse that their dignity be affronted."

Lemrabet had declared that the Sahrawi populations in the Polisario-controlled Tindouf camps enjoy the freedom of movement, which was rejected by several sahrawi associations who accused the journalist of disseminating lies. Several sit-ins were staged last week in Rabat to denounce Lemrabet's "fallacious" claims and the silence of the government vis-à-vis these allegations.

El Fassi said protests against Lemrabet's statements are "legitimate and had a large echo," especially since the "international civil society denounces the sequestration of Moroccan citizens in the camps that are controlled by the Polisario. This Algeria-backed separatist movement lays claim to Morocco's southern provinces (known as the Sahara), that were retrieved by the kingdom in 1975 from former colonial power, Spain.

The UN Secretary General, said El Fassi, "has constantly drawn the attention of UN member countries on the tragedy in the camps where human rights violations are constantly committed."

"How is it possible to pretend the existence of any kind of freedom in the camps of Tindouf, when Morocco is receiving prisoners in agony because of their inhuman detention conditions," commented El Fassi on the same issue at a meeting organized Sunday in Tangier.

The Secretary General added that the Sahara issue is a Moroccan-Algerian conflict, noting that even the United Nations and important world powers share the same opinion and call for a political negotiated solution between the concerned parties.