The Casablanca Court of Appeal heard last Friday the accounts of defense witnesses in the case of 10 persons suspected of being Al-Qaeda operatives. The defense heard 25 witnesses, while three others could not speak because two did not produce an ID cards and the third person was absent.

Regarding the summons addressed to the Saudi Ambassador as a witness, the court said it would be satisfied if a letter is sent to the court by the diplomat, who claims he was not notified of the three Saudis' arrest. The three Saudis and seven Moroccans arrested in June 2002 are standing trial on suspicion of plotting to carry out terrorist acts in Morocco and against Western ships in the Strait of Gibraltar. Their trial opened on October 28th 2002. The hearing will resume on February 18th to hear arguments of the defense attorneys and of the public prosecutor.

The defendants denied that they are members of Al-Qaeda. Zouhair Tabiti, a member of the group, conceded that he met Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2000 but denied that he bought chemicals to make explosive devices.

Algeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who paid a two-day visit to Morocco on February 6-7, announced in Rabat on Friday that joint Moroccan-Algerian working groups will start to meet next week. "The groups will have to endeavor... to craft solutions to various bilateral issues, including the re-opening of borders," he told a press conference. Land borders between the two North African states were closed in 1994, after evidence showed the involvement of Algerians in the killing of two Spanish tourists.

Belkhadem expressed satisfaction that bilateral relations are being resumed. Addressing a question on the reopening of the borders, he noted that the joint working groups will have to meet and submit proposals on issues related to drug trafficking and some other pending issues only. "Reopening borders will thus be a logical consequence of the proposed solutions."

The groups' proposals will be submitted to Morocco's Premier, Driss Jettou, and his Algerian counterpart or to the upcoming summit of King Mohammed VI and Algerian President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The two heads of state will meet soon, and an agenda will be worked out to "transcend the misunderstandings between Rabat and Algiers." Belkhadem added: "I had a long conversation with King Mohammed VI and found many similarities in the two states' positions on several issues." Touching on the Sahara problem, he voiced his country's stance favoring "any political solution blessed by all parties and according with international law."

The United States called on the Algeria-backed Polisario secessionists to release immediately without conditions all remaining Moroccan prisoners detained in camps in Southwestern Algeria. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that Washington welcomed the release of 100 Moroccan prisoners of war on February 10th, but urged the parties to the conflict to engage seriously with the representatives of the UN Secretary-General in seeking a solution. 1,160 Moroccan prisoners are still imprisoned, some of them for about 25 years, in the Polisario camps at Tindouf.

A similar appeal was made by the UN Secretary-General's special representative for the Sahara, William Lacy Swing, who called for "an early release of all remaining prisoners of war" detained by the Polisario.