Congress staffers informed on several issues on Sahara in Laayoune

American Congress staffers held a series of meetings Wednesday and Thursday, in the Southern city of Laayoune, with several local officials, deputies and civil society representatives.

The Congress staffers were informed on the prerogatives of the local provincial assembly and its role in the management of public matters, and its contribution to the economic and social development of the region.

In the town hall, the staffers discussed with local associations representatives social, cultural and human rights issues as well as the role of the associations attending the meeting.

Taking the floor several representatives of the associations highlighted the importance of visits by Congress staffers, for they help review the efforts made to develop the region and the endeavours of the associations. Some called for the setting up of partnership between local and American associations to jointly carry out economic and social projects. On the occasion, Human rights associations presented testimonies on the serious violations perpetrated in the Tindouf camps, South-West Algeria, by Polisario against the population of the camps.

Polisario has been sequestrating Moroccans from the South since 1975 when the separatists waged war on Moroccan claiming the separation from the Motherland of the Southern provinces retrieved by Morocco in line with the Madrid accords.

The human rights associations stressed the need to intervene to free the Sahrawi populations sequestrated in Tindouf and allow them to return to the motherland, especially that they live daily suffering and repression under the Polisario.