Hundreds of Polisario Front Fighters Reportedly among Qaddafi's Mercenaries Arrested by Liberation Forces in Libya

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This week, following the largely complete take-over of Tripoli by the opposition forces of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), new reports have surfaced that more than 500 of Moammar Qaddafi's mercenaries who were captured and arrested are members of the Polisario Front.  

These reports follow earlier claims this Spring that the Polisario Front, an Algerian-backed separatist movement, was supplying fighters to Qaddafi's forces who were actively engaged in combat with US and NATO troops attempting to protect Libya's civilians. The Polisario has fought for decades with Morocco over the future of the Western Sahara.

According to these new reports, high-ranking NTC officials revealed that Polisario fighters were captured in Bab El Aziziah, Qaddafi's military headquarters in Tripoli, and they intend to capture "the remaining Polisario elements still at-large in Libya."

The new reports can be found at: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=47816

"The growing evidence that members of the Polisario Front are aiding Qaddafi's forces who are fighting against U.S. and NATO peacekeepers is outrageous and disturbing," said Ambassador (ret.) Edward M. Gabriel, President of the Moroccan American Center. "If these reports are true, the Polisario Front and any other groups that seek to destabilize the region—and threaten US interests and allies—must be held accountable by the international community for their actions."

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

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