Polisario releases detained former security chief

Polisario Police Inspector-General Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud was released after two months in detention following his stated support for a Moroccan proposal to resolve the Western Sahara conflict, sources told Al Arabiya on Thursday.

Former police chief at the Polisario front was set free and handed to the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) at the Western Sahara-Mauritania borders.

He is expected to head for Madrid in the company of his brother Mohamed Sheikh Ould Sidi Mouloud, who headed the Action Committee for the release of Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud.

"After so much procrastination on the part of the Polisario, Ould Sidi Mouloud was finally taken to meet the representative of the UNHCR with the assistance of Mauritanian authorities," said Omar Halal, Moroccan ambassador at the U.N. in Geneva.

During the meeting, Ould Sidi Mouloud was supposed to choose his country of residence in accordance with UNHCR laws, Hilal explained.

He added that the release of the former Polsario police chief came after the militant front was put under pressure by the UNHCR as well as several international NGOs.

Pro-Moroccan stance

Ould Sidi Mouloud outraged Polisario ranks in August when he held a press conference in the Western Saharan city of Semara and declared his support of Morocco’s proposal to grant autonomy to the disputed territory. He also called upon the Sahrawi people to start talking directly to Rabat about their future.

He later announced his determination to defend his views despite the tyranny of the Polisario leadership and the front’s constant attempts at silencing the voices of its dissidents.

Ould Sidi Mouloud also called upon the United Nations and international human rights groups to support him and protect his right to freedom of speech and his safety.

He was arrested by Polisario militiamen while on his way to the camps of Tindouf, the front’s headquarters in Algeria.

A few days before his arrest Ould Sidi Mouloud told the Italian news agency Adnkronos International that he decided to return to the camp despite the death threats he had been receiving.

“I am aware that my life is in danger but I decided to return to Tindouf because I want to tell everyone that the policy pursued by the Polisario leadership is wrong.”

(Translated from the Arabic by Sonia Farid)