In Algeria, President Houari Boumedienne stated that "Algeria had no interest in Western Sahara other than to see the Sahrawi's right to self-determination respected". The mission also visited the Sahrawi communities in Tindouf, Oum el-Assel and Hassi Abdallah in Algeria, where they "were met by thousands of pro-POLISARIO demonstrators" and were shown Spanish officers of the Tropas Nómadas, held as prisoners-of-war by POLISARIO forces. POLISARIO General-Secretary El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed stated that "a referendum was unnecessary since it was now evident that the majority of Saharawis wanted independence, but [...] said that that they would accept one, if the UN insisted, on condition that the Spanish administration had first been withdrawn and replaced by a 'national' administration, that all Spanish troops had been withdrawn and replaced by POLISARIO soldiers under UN and Arab League guarantees, and that all refugees had been allowed to return to the territory".