US embassy cable - 05ALGIERS1426

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 001426 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, PBTS, AG, Polisario 
SUBJECT: POLISARIO LEADER IS WORKING TO RELEASE MOROCCAN 
PRISONERS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE 
 
 
Classified By: Marc J. Sievers, Charges d'Affairs a.i. 
for reasons 1.4 (d) 
 
1.  (U)  On July 16 Algerian French-language newspapers El 
Watan, Liberte and Expression, as well as the leading 
Arabic-language newspaper El Khabar quoted a July 14 article 
from French newspaper Le Monde stating that Polisario 
"President" Abdelaziz, on a diplomatic mission to Spain, 
announced his decision to release all of the Moroccan POWs 
"as quickly as possible".  Le Monde also reported Abdelaziz 
as saying that the Sahrawis will inform the International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of the decision and work 
with them to sort out the technical details.  There are 
currently 408 Moroccan POWs held by the Sahrawis in prisons 
located on Algerian territory.  Some of the prisoners have 
been held for more than 20 years. 
 
2.  (C)  PolEc Chief and Poloff met with ICRC Algerian 
representative Oliver Durr July 16 to ask whether the 
Polisario had approached the ICRC.  Durr told Emboffs that 
the prisoner release has been in the works since mid-June and 
Sahrawi "Ambassador" to Algeria Bissat told him last week to 
"read the newspapers".  Durr confirmed that the Polisario 
asked the ICRC to be ready for the prisoner release, but has 
not yet set a date. He commented that ICRC knew that 
something was "in the air" when a scheduled June 13 meeting 
between ICRC and the Polisario was canceled, and the desire 
for a prisoner release became more clear during a June 27-28 
meeting with Abdelaziz.  He did not have any additional 
details, since ICRC Tunis was responsible for the Western 
Sahara portfolio.  Durr added that ICRC needed to be notified 
a week before the transfer to arrange the charter flights and 
medical personnel.  He was not sure if the release was backed 
by international sponsors, such as France, Spain or the 
United States. 
 
SIEVERS