DATE=11/24/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=POLISARIO / MOROCCO PRISONERS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256510
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Polisario Front that has been seeking
independence for Western Sahara says it has released
nearly 200 Moroccan prisoners of war. Middle East
Correspondent Scott Bobb reports from our bureau in
Cairo that the Front is calling for Morocco to help
bring about a much-delayed referendum on the former
Spanish colony.
TEXT: A statement by the Polisario Front carried on
Algerian radio said that five of the 191 prisoners
have returned home. The statement called the release
a humanitarian gesture to mark the Muslim holy month
of Ramadan, which begins in two-weeks.
The release followed a visit to Polisario headquarters
in southwestern Algeria by U-S special envoy for
Western Sahara, William Eagleton. Mr. Eagleton met
Tuesday with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Algeria has backed the Polisario and is home to an
estimated 50-thousand refugees from Western Sahara.
The Polisario statement urged Morocco, which also
claims the territory, to cooperate fully with a
proposed referendum on the future of the Western
Sahara.
The Polisario fought a guerrilla war with Morocco for
15-years, but accepted a cease-fire in 1991 that was
to be followed by a referendum. The referendum has
since been delayed by procedural disputes. The United
Nations has drawn up registration lists, based on a
complicated formula meant to ensure only the original
inhabitants are allowed to vote.
But nearly 80-thousand people are appealing their
exclusion from the list, leading U-N officials to say
the referendum will probably be delayed again.
/// REST OPT ///
Hundreds of Moroccan prisoners have been held by the
Polisario, some of them for 20-years. Their plight
has been complicated by the fact that until recently
Morocco did not acknowledge their existence. But the
recent dismissal of Morocco's powerful Interior
Minister, Driss Basri, who was in charge of the
disputed territory, has brought hope of a solution to
the 25-year dispute. (SIGNED)
NEB/SB/GE/RAE
24-Nov-1999 12:27 PM EDT (24-Nov-1999 1727 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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