LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Western Sahara Conflict: Moroccan Ministry
built 643 days ago
The Polisario-controlled parts of Western Sahara are barren and have no resident population, but they are travelled by small numbers of Sahrawis herding camels, going back and forth between the Tindouf area and Mauritania. However, the presence of mines scattered throughout the territory by both the Polisario and the Moroccan army makes it a dangerous way of life.
Source:
The European Union remains concerned about the humanitarian aspects of the Western Sahara conflict. The Presidency welcomed the release, in August of this year, of 404 Moroccan prisoners of war by the Polisario Front and urged all parties to take concrete measures within their area of responsibility to resolve the remaining humanitarian issues linked to the conflict. In particular the European Union calls on both parties to continue to cooperate with the efforts of the ICRC to solve the problem of the fate of all those unaccounted for since the beginning of the conflict.
Source:
MOROCCO-ALGERIA CONFLICT: The Western Saharan conflict is enmeshed in the geopolitics of the region. Morocco and Algeria have been engaged in a struggle for dominance over northwest Africa. Algeria opposes any plan that would extend Moroccan territory and political influence in the region. Moroccan annexation of the Western Sahara would have an encircling effect on Algeria. Also, Algerians fear that annexation would encourage Morocco to pursue unfulfilled claims to territory in western Algeria. Algeria prefers a weak, independent Saharan state from which it can contain Morocco and exert pressure on Mauritania.
Source:
Third, it is worth noting that during the war for Western Sahara (1975-1991), Moroccan forces ... committed war crimes. The most notable and documented case was the bombing of civilian encampments of internally displaced Sahrawis during the early phases of the war in late 1975 and early 1976, a clear violation of Hague Article 23. Furthermore, the international community should pursue investigations into other war crimes, including documented cases of long-term enforced ‘disappearance’ and allegations of widespread extrajudicial executions. To this day, the Moroccan government has failed to fully account for several hundred Sahrawi civilians that ‘disappeared’ into Moroccan jails from the 1970s to the 1990s.[v]
Source:
The men, women and even children who "disappeared" in Western Sahara came from all walks of life. Many were detained because of their alleged pro-independence activities, support for the Polisario Front, and opposition to Morocco's control of the Western Sahara. Others, including elderly people and children, "disappeared" because of their family links with known or suspected opponents to Moroccan government policy in Western Sahara. (amnesty1999)
Source:
The Western Sahara, covering an area larger than Britain, has lucrative phosphate reserves and rich fishing grounds. Many thousands of Sahrawis live in refugee camps across the border in Algeria, while Moroccan arrivals in the territory now outnumber the original inhabitants.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Moroccan Ministry