The United Nations today reported significant progress on measures to
increase the number of family visits for Western Sahara refugees who
have been separated for more than 35 years.
"I am really encouraged that, thanks to progress made in this meeting,
many more families will finally see each other after a long and
painful separation," <"http://www.unhcr.org/4d5414106.html">said UN
High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, after wrapping up a
two-day meeting in Geneva.
The visits and other so-called confidence-building measures were the
focus of the talks, which also included the Secretary-General's
Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, the parties to
the Western Sahara dispute, Morocco and the Frente Polisario, the
neighbouring countries of Algeria and Mauritania, and the head the UN
Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), Hany Abdel
Aziz.
During the course of the meeting, the parties agreed to follow up on
the 2004 Plan of Action and focus on the humanitarian purpose of the
Confidence-building Measures Programme.
Launched by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in 2004, the Programme is a
strictly humanitarian and non-political effort in support of the
refugees living in camps near Tindouf, Algeria, and their families in
the territory of Western Sahara.
Since its launch, 13,000 people out of a list of over 40,000 have been
reunited thanks to family visit flights in both directions, according
to UNHCR.
During the Geneva talks, six proposals to expand the number of people
who are able to visit each other and to increase the possibilities for
communication were agreed on. One of them is for UNHCR and MINURSO to
undertake a technical assessment mission to establish a route to allow
families to be transported by road. This mission will start as early
as April this year.
UNHCR was also requested to come up with proposals on ways to activate
telephone and mail communication between separated families in the
near future.
Sahrawi refugees started arriving in Algeria in 1976 after Spain
withdrew from Western Sahara and fighting broke out over its control.
The majority live in four camps in the desert regions of Tindouf,
according to UNHCR.
However, a part of the Sahrawis live in Western Sahara and to this day
families, including husbands and wives, parents and children, remain
separated, the agency added.
Mr. Ross has been leading UN efforts to help resolve the dispute over
the status of Western Sahara. Morocco has presented a plan for
autonomy while the position of the Frente Polisario is that the
territory's final status should be decided in a referendum on
self-determination that includes independence as an option.
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