[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 29, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H6514-H6515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        WESTERN SAHARA PRISONERS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, last week I spoke on Morocco's refusal to 
permit removal by the U.N. of millions of land mines in Western Sahara. 
Today, I rise on behalf of the POWs of both sides of the war between 
Morocco and the Western Sahara who were captured or

[[Page H6515]]

are missing as a result of the 20-year conflict.
  I personally visited with 84 Moroccan POW's military personnel who 
have been freed by Western Sahara as a gesture of goodwill and whom the 
kingdom of Morocco will not permit to return to their country.
  On my visit to the refugee camps, I met with an organization which 
tracks missing Sahrawis. 526 Sahrawis remain among the disappeared. 
They are either prisoners held by Morocco or are missing, all held 
incommunicado by Morocco.
  In a country like Morocco, which is a friend of the United States, it 
is strange to hear reports of such clear violations to fundamental 
human rights as to not identify POWs and missing people.
  I urge the Kingdom of Morocco to reconsider their policy and identify 
all those held incommunicado as well as accept back their own military 
which have been freed by Western Sahara.

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