US Senators Appeal to Sec. Clinton for Assurance on Safety of Police Chief Arrested by Polisario for Speaking Out to End Sahara Conflict

Imprisoned Sahrawi leader's father, brother travel to US for personal plea to UN to 'Free Sidi Mouloud'

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Senators Judd Gregg (R-NH) and George LeMieux (R-FL) wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, joining other Congress members and a growing outcry from international human rights advocates seeking action and assurance for the safety and whereabouts of Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud. The Polisario Front accused the Sahrawi police chief of "treason" and "espionage" and arrested him Sept. 21 in Algeria as he tried to rejoin his wife and children in the Tindouf refugee camps.  Sidi Mouloud had vowed to speak out to other Sahrawis in favor of Morocco's compromise autonomy plan to reunite Sahrawi families and end the decades-long Western Sahara conflict.

"This letter is to express my concern for the safety of Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud, the Inspector General of the Polisario Front's police," Senators Gregg and LeMieux each wrote to Sec. Clinton. "Your assistance in obtaining information on Mr. Sidi Mouloud's whereabouts and circumstances is greatly appreciated." Gregg is Ranking Member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and LeMieux is a Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.  

The Senators' letters note that Sidi Mouloud was in Morocco on a recent trip sponsored by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). After seeing the progress in W. Sahara, which he was visiting for the first time in 31 years, Sidi Mouloud vowed to return to the refugee camps and voice his support for Morocco's compromise autonomy plan to end the 35-year W. Sahara dispute. The letters point to the growing outcry from international human rights advocates criticizing Sidi Mouloud's arrest—including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Leadership Council for Human Rights, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Sidi Mouloud's father and brother are travelling to the U.S. this week from southern Morocco to speak to the United Nations and urge the international community to support their efforts to free Sidi Mouloud.  They will address the UN 4th Committee on Tuesday in New York City and hand deliver letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and international human rights groups. Sidi Mouloud's father, Sheikh Salma Mouloud, is a leader of the Rguibat tribe, the largest Sahrawi tribe in W. Sahara.  The father and brother both live in Smara, in southern Morocco, where Sidi Mouloud was kidnapped as a young boy by Polisario raiders who killed four other family members and injured his father.

For the full text of the letter from Sen. LeMieux to Sec. Clinton, go to:

http://www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org/upload/documents/Sen_Lemieux_letter_on_Sidi_Mouloud.pdf

Earlier, Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Jim Moran (D-VA) sent a letter to Clinton urging "the State Department to work to secure the immediate release of Mr. Sidi Mouloud."  That letter is at: http://www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org/upload/documents/Cong_Letter_to_Clinton_re_Sidi_Mouloud.pdf

There is also a Free Sidi Mouloud page on Facebook, at:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Free-Sidi-Mouloud/156280031067961?ref=ts.  A petition for Sidi Mouloud's release has been organized by Leadership Council for Human Rights, at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/free-mustapha-salma-ould-sidi-mouloud-now/.

The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and interested publics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.  For more, please visit www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org

This material is distributed by the Moroccan American Center for Policy on behalf of the Government of Morocco. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.

SOURCE Moroccan American Center for Policy