Morocco's King Mohammed VI will pardon 290 inmates, including members of the Polisario Front, Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Friday. The report said the amnesty will mainly concern detainees arrested in the wake of recent protests in the city of al-Ayoun, in western Sahara. Many of the detainees belong to the Polisario movement fighting for the independence of Morocco's Western Sahara region.
The Algerian backed Polisario has waged an 18-year guerrilla campaign against Moroccan forces. Morocco reclaimed Western Sahara after Spain withdrew from the colony in 1975.
The conflict ignited a long and bitter guerrilla war that was ended in 1991 by a UN-brokered cease-fire. Polisario, backed by neighbouring Algeria, still claims sovereignty over the area but has little international support.
Anonymous sources cited by the paper said the king decided to grant the amnesty to pursue negotiations with the movement, after undertaking a goodwill tour of Western Sahara in the past few days.
Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
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