A Moroccan soldier held captive for 17 years by the Polisario separatist group in Tindouf camps (Algeria) and repatriated Saturday to Morocco, died Monday in the military hospital of "Avicenne" in Marrakech, according to the official <i>MAP</i> news agency.
Mohamed Lahmadi was seriously ill when he was repatriated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with another Moroccan soldier who was also in poor health condition.
According to the news agency, the latter was detained for 16 years by the Polisario separatists. Mohamed Lahmadi will be buried in the south Moroccan Atlantic city of Essaouira at the request of his wife.
Meanwhile, the Moroccan ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation which announced the release of the two men, on Saturday, had “strongly deplored that their jailers have awaited the deterioration of their health to accept to release them”.
Following their liberation, Morocco called on the international community to exert more pressures on parties responsible for this "peculiar and critical humanitarian situation so as to put an end to the plight experienced by hundreds of Moroccan prisoners in the Algerian territory.”
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
