The Sahara "is not an issue of decolonization" and "has nothing to do with the right of peoples to self-determination," said Secretary-General of the Algerian Workers' Party, Louisa Hanoune, quoted Saturday by the Algerian daily "Le Jour d'Algérie".
 

 The assessment the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for the Sahara, Peter van Walsum, submitted to the Security Council, "is as important" as the report of Ban Ki-moon, according to Spain's ambassador to the United Nations, Juan Antonio Yanes-Barnuevo.

Sheikhs and notables from Saharan tribes in the region of Guelmim-Smara expressed their satisfaction following statements by the personal representative of UN Secretary-General, Mr. Peter Van Walsum who submitted his report on the Sahara issue to the Security Council in which he says that the independence of the Sahara "is not a realistic option".

 The former President of Tunisia, late Habib Bourguiba, considered the dispute created around the Sahara issue as "an artificial problem," said former Tunisian Minister of the Interior, Mr. Taher Belkhouja.

According to the newspaper, African history analysts "have always clearly maintained that Western Sahara is part of the Kingdom of Morocco", pointing out that external forces have forced African countries to recognize the RASD, which led Morocco to withdraw from the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union).