More Moroccan prisoners freed

The Polisario Front has announced the liberation of 100 Moroccans taken prisoner during the movement's 27-year fight for the independence of Western Sahara. Monday's announcement was welcomed by external observers, including France, which described it as "a positive gesture", and Spain. "France, like its European partners and the entire international community, considers that, in keeping with international humanitarian law, the Polisario Front has to pursue and carry out the liberation of all Moroccan prisoners of war," The Quai d'Orsay said in a statement on Wednesday. It said France was committed to working towards the resolution of all humanitarian aspects of the Western Sahara conflict. Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is occupied by Morocco which invaded it in 1975 when Spain pulled out. The invasion led the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia-el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario Front) to take up arms to fight for the independence of the territory. In 1991, Polisario and Morocco signed a ceasefire agreement, paving the way for UN intervention but a planned referendum to determine the future of the territory has still not been held and armed skirmishes have continued. About 110,000 to 155,000 Sahrawi, as the people of Western Sahara are called, live as refugees in southern Algeria, according to Refugees International. The Spanish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the liberation of the prisoners "could constitute, together with the implementation of confidence-building measures, a good opportunity to lay the groundwork for the much desired and needed climate of greater trust, dialogue and understanding between the parties involved in the conflict". It said Spain had repeatedly expressed to the parties to the conflict its concern over the humanitarian asepcts of the Western Sahara dispute and the need to find a solution to the situation of individuals and populations affected by the conflict. It also expressed the hope that the remaining prisoners of war would be released.