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That is the plea of the 408 Moroccan prisoners of war currently held by the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara. With many having been incarcerated for over two decades, they are currently the longest-serving POWs in the world. Six recently released POWs who met with The Washington Times told their tragic tales of torture, mutilation and starvation at the hands of their captors. All had been prisoners for more than 20 years. “We have lost everything,” said one.

The conflict between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front goes back to the 1970s. The Polisario Front represents the Saharawi tribe, who claim sovereignty of the region today known as Western Sahara, and includes portions of southwestern Morocco and western Algeria, where they are based at the city of Tindouf. Beginning in 1975, Morocco and the Polisario fought a bloody guerrilla war over the disputed region. In 1991, both sides agreed to a U.N.-brokered cease-fire under which they agreed to release their thousands of POWs as required by the Geneva Conventions. Instead, the Polisario Front has used Moroccan POWs as political leverage to elicit aid and funds from non-governmental organizations.

At the present, Polisario’s cause seems to be lost, their troops are outnumbered by Morocco’s, Libya’s and especially Algeria’s support for Polisario a precondition for their continued fighting has dwindled quicker than international and African attention to the claim on independence for Western Sahara has disappeared from the news headlines.

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