SWITZERLAND/ALGERIA: WORLD'S LONGEST SERVING PRISONERS ARE BEING RETURNED TO MOROCCO AFTER BEING HELD BY THE POLISARIO FRONT
Record ID:
574560
SWITZERLAND/ALGERIA: WORLD'S LONGEST SERVING PRISONERS ARE BEING RETURNED TO MOROCCO AFTER BEING HELD BY THE POLISARIO FRONT
- Title: SWITZERLAND/ALGERIA: WORLD'S LONGEST SERVING PRISONERS ARE BEING RETURNED TO MOROCCO AFTER BEING HELD BY THE POLISARIO FRONT
- Date: 18th August 2005
- Summary: (W4) GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (AUGUST 18, 2005)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS HEADQUARTERS (ICRC) 0.03 2. WIDE OF INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS ICRC FLAG 0.08 3. SLV ICRC SPOKESWOMAN NADA DOUMANI SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST 0.13 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) ICRC SPOKESWOMAN NADA DOUMANI SAYING: "Today 404 prisoners who were held by the Polisario Front were released. The ICRC welcomes this release, which is a very important step in the process of the resolution of the conflict in Western Sahara. This group of 404 is the last group of Moroccan prisoners who were detained by the Polisario Front. As I said, we really welcome this very important step, but there are still other humanitarian problems which need to be solved and more specifically, those related to the issue of people missing from the conflict, from both sides, the Moroccan side and from the Saharawi side." 0.53 5. WIDE OF NADA DOUMANI SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST 0.56 6. SCU SOUNDBITE (English) NADA DOUMANI SAYING: "Some of those people who have been released today have been detained for 15 or 20 years. According to international law, prisoners should released at the end of active hostilities." 1.07 7. SCU SOUNDBITE (Arabic) NADA DOUMANI SAYING THE SAME. "Some of those people who have been released today have been detained for 15 or 20 years. According to international law, prisoners should released at the end of active hostilities." 1.38 (W4) TINDOUF, ALGERIA (FILE - 2000)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. VARIOUS OF FORMER PRISONERS GETTING ON PLANE AFTER BEING RELEASED 1.53 9. VARIOUS OF FORMER PRISONER ON STRETCHER BEING LIFTED ONTO PLANE 2.04 10. SCU ON BOARD, STEWARD SAYING (French): "The ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) plane door is now closed, you are now free." 2.14 11. PAN TO PRISONERS ON BOARD APPLAUDING THE ANNOUNCEMENT 2.20 12. VARIOUS OF FORMER PRISONERS LOOKING OUT OF PLANE WINDOW 2.27 (W4) AGADIR, ALGERIA (FILE - 2000)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 13. VARIOUS OF FREED PRISONERS GETTING OFF THE PLANE IN AGADIR, ALGERIA 2.43 14. VARIOUS OF PRISONER KISSING THE GROUND AFTER GETTING OFF THE PLANE 2.52 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 2nd September 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TINDOUF, ALGERIA / AGADIR, ALGERIA / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- City:
- Country: Algeria Switzerland
- Reuters ID: LVAEV3NE1X5V9YMTDWN27KDCE3ID
- Story Text: The world's longest serving prisoners of war
returned to Morocco after being held for 20 years by the
Polisario Front independence movement.
Western Sahara's exiled Polisario Front
independence movement on Thursday (August 18) freed its
last 404 Moroccan prisoners of war, many held for almost
two decades.
They were the world's longest-serving prisoners of war.
"Today 404 prisoners who were held by the Polisario
Front were released. The ICRC welcomes this release, which
is a very important step in the process of the resolution
of the conflict in Western Sahara", ICRC spokeswoman Nada
Doumani said.
The area has been disputed since Spain pulled out in
1975 and since Morocco claiming Western Sahara as part of
its territory.
"Some of those people who have been released today have
been detained for 15 or 20 years", Nada Doumani added.
The former prisoners are to be flown to Agadir,
Morocco, for reunion with their families.
Over the years the ICRC has repatriated more than 2,000 Moroccan
prisoners captured during a 16-year-long guerrilla
war with Morocco over the Western Sahara.
Its officials regularly visited the detainees,
providing medical care and transmitting messages to their
families.
A United Nations-brokered ceasefire was clinched in
1991, ending the conflict with a promise of a referendum on
the territory's future but Morocco has refused to allow a
vote on self-determination.
"There are still other humanitarian problems which need
to be solved and more specifically, those related to the
issue of people missing from the conflict, from both sides,
the Moroccan side and from the Saharawi side", Nada Doumani said.
cm/gp
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