UNHCR announces resumption of family visits between Morocco's southern provinces and Tindouf camps

Geneva - The UNHCR announced, on Friday, the resumption of the family visit exchange between Morocco's southern provinces and Tindouf camps, southwestern Algeria.

Melissa Fleming, UNHCR spokesperson, said the first flight will carry 30 people (five families) from Laayoune to a camp near Tindouf, Algeria, while 33 others (six families) will fly later in the day from this camp to Laayoune.

She said the UN agency intends to organise, in February 2011, a meeting in Geneva "with all the parties to discuss the implementation of other components of the programme of confidence-building measures which will, upon their implantation, benefit a larger number of Saharawi families."

The spokesperson recalled that the programme has, since its launch in 2004, benefited a total of 12,635 Sahrawis, while 31,058 are registered and are waiting to reunite their families after three decades of separation.