Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday expressed his satisfaction over the release of more than 400 Moroccans by the Algerian-backed Polisario Front after more than 25 years of detention, an official statement said.
Obasanjo, the African Union chairperson, commended all the countries and international organisations which worked to achieve freedom for the 404 Moroccans on August 18, the statement from the president’s office said.
”With this development, a significant step has been taken towards the peaceful resolution of the Saharan issue. It signals the end of some human suffering caused by the Saharan conflict and should mark the beginning of the process of dialogue involving all parties concerned,” the text said.
In his capacity as the AU chairperson, Obasanjo will intensify consultations with all the parties and actively encourage a negotiated solution to the Western Sahara issue, the statement said.
The AU Commission on August 21 welcomed the release of the last Moroccan prisoners of war held by the Western Sahara’s Polisario separatist rebels and urged Rabat to reciprocate with respect to the Sahrawi prisoners who disappeared during the conflict.
Morocco annexed the Western Sahara — formerly ruled by Spain — in 1975 but its claim was contested by the Polisario Front, sparking a conflict in the northwestern African region.
Under a 1991 ceasefire agreement between Morocco and the Polisario independence movement, all prisoners were to be released immediately.
The Polisario Front captured more than 1 000 Moroccans during the conflict, but it has since gradually released the detainees, many of them soldiers, under pressure from foreign governments and international organisations.
Polisario charges that Morocco still has 150 prisoners of war, 35 political prisoners and more than 500 missing who are being held in secret in Moroccan prisons. – Sapa-AFP