French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, said Morocco's proposal to grant autonomy to its southern provinces, the Sahara, "deserves to be discussed seriously," adding that the option of a referendum "has not worked so far."

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mustapha Mansouri, criticized, here Wednesday , the partiality of a draft report of the European Parliament on the visit to Morocco of a delegation of European MPs that was deliberately leaked to the press.

Mr. Sidati El Ghallaoui, former Polisario representative in Italy has denounced Tuesday, the flagrant interference of Algeria in the Moroccan Sahara issue and its esclalation persistence when the UN is attempting to find a solution to this issue.

A Sahrawi man, beneficiary of the HCR-led family visits exchange programme between Morocco's Southern Provinces, the Sahara, and the Tindouf camps has decided not to return to the camps and settle in Morocco.

Paraguayan foreign minister, Alejandro Hamed Franco, said, here Monday following the first session of the joint bilateral committee, that his country "continues to hold its traditional position" with regard to the Sahara issue, which "remains absolutely unchanged."