Granting autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty to the southern provinces can accelerate pace of socio-economic development of the region, said Saturday in Laayoune, MEP Gilles Pargneaux, chairman of the EU-Morocco friendship group.

The Spanish news agency Europa Press published a story last Sunday denouncing the "drama" of hundreds of young Sahrawi women who were adopted by families in Spain then kidnapped and held against their will in Tindouf camps.

MEP Hugues Bayet stressed that the European Union (EU) must exercise control over aid for Sahrawis sequestrated in Tindouf camps to avert any attempt of embezzlement and ensure that the aid benefit to people who need it.

The report of the US State Department on the situation of human rights in Morocco "serves the separatist propaganda of the enemies of Morocco's territorial integrity'', Communication minister, government spokesman, Mustapha El Khalfi, said here Thursday.

The President of the European People's Party (EPP), Joseph Daul reiterated Monday in Rabat, the support of the party to Morocco in the field of human rights and territorial integrity of the Kingdom.