ALGERIA AND WESTERN SAHARA

Algeria relies on 'rivalries between superpowers' to thwart Moroccan plan to settle Sahara issue

Algeria relies on 'rivalries between superpowers' to thwart Moroccan plan to settle Sahara issue 12/20/2006 Algeria, "new gas and oil Eldorado," relies on "the rivalries between the superpowers, which fight over its favors" to thwart the Moroccan plan to settle the Sahara issue, wrote Thursday the French daily "Libération."In an article entitled "the Sahara: Mohammed VI proposes autonomy," the paper notes that "the Algerian press virulence" against the visit king Mohammed VI paid to the southern provinces suggests "Algeria's categorical refusal" to the settlement plan proposed by the sovereign regarding autonomy within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.

During this six-day tour, king Mohammed VI reaffirmed that the Sahara would remain Moroccan and that Morocco "will give up no grain of its sand" and re-launched the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), the paper recalls. This body "was completely renewed" and is now composed of 141 members, including tribes chiefs and representatives of youth movements and civil society -notably women, it says, noting that the sovereign invited them to transform this council into “an institution of development and mobilization of the citizens and a proposal force.” The daily also notes the sovereign’s inauguration of several development projects in the southern provinces –estimated at USD 776Mn-, pointing out that Moroccan plan benefits from the support of Sahrawis and political parties.

POLISARIO'S KIDNAPPING AND TORTURE

US 'Trenton Times' stigmatizes Polisario kidnapping, torture

The US daily "Trenton Times" on Monday stigmatized Polisario kidnapping and torture inflicted to the Moroccan sequestered and deportation of youth to Cuba.

The paper says that a delegation of Moroccan former-Tindouf camps sequestered toured last week the USA to draw the US public opinion, notably the Christian community, on the ordeal the "Polisaio" inflicted to the sequestered "in the hope their stories will save others." Since 1976, dozens of thousands of Moroccans have been held against their will in Tindouf camps by the Algeria-backed separatist movement of Polisario, which has been laying claim to Morocco's southern province (the Sahara).

The daily cited Reverend Ken Jascko, who runs a congregation in Marlboro, New Jersey, saying that “in the United States, you never hear about people being abducted, separated from their families and tortured,” underlining that these testimonies “have broadened my perspective about the world.”

The delegation, including Ali Jaouhar who spent 23 years in Tindouf camps and Saadani Ma Oulainine, 28, hope their stories will convince the United States to help liberate any remaining detainees and discredit the corrupt Polisario Front. “They kicked us in our intimate parts. They spat in our faces,” said Jaouhar eyes welled with tears as he described a fellow prisoner being doused with gasoline and burned alive, and another being crushed by a truck because he told his captors he simply couldn't work anymore. He went on to say that prisoners seldom received mail, but in one case the Red Cross delivered a letter informing him his wife had died. He missed his chance to raise his daughter, only 8 months old when he was captured.

Oulainine practically grew up in a Polisario camp for refugees and remembers nothing of her life before her family was incarcerated when she was about 5. When she was about 10, her mother tearfully packed her things and lied to her that she was going on a summer vacation. Oulainine was torn from her mother and siblings and sent to Cuba, where such children were forced to chop sugar cane, where she remained until 2002. She has since been reunited with her mother and some siblings, but her father died in prison. her being crushed by a truck because he told his captors he simply couldn't work anymore.

He went on to say that prisoners seldom received mail, but in one case the Red Cross delivered a letter informing him his wife had died. He missed his chance to raise his daughter, only 8 months old when he was captured. Oulainine practically grew up in a Polisario camp for refugees and remembers nothing of her life before her family was incarcerated when she was about 5. When she was about 10, her mother tearfully packed her things and lied to her that she was going on a summer vacation.

Oulainine was torn from her mother and siblings and sent to Cuba, where such children were forced to chop sugar cane, where she remained until 2002. She has since been reunited with her mother and some siblings, but her father died in prison.