Speaking at a meeting with national media outlets, Mr. Fassi Fihri noted that "the other parties are now under pressure", stressing the Kingdom's efforts to reach a "consensual and mutually acceptable" solution to the Sahara issue, opposing the north African country to Polisario separatists.
The Sahara dispute broke out in 1976 when the Polisario, backed by Morocco's eastern neighbor, Algeria, started laying claims to the territory, a former Spanish colony that was ceded to the North African country in 1975 under the Madrid Accord. The Polisario continues to hold thousands of Moroccans against their will in the Tindouf camps (south western Algeria).
Recalling that Morocco's autonomy initiative was a break with the past, he noted that it was devised in response to the calls of the international community and the United Nations security Council’s resolution that called on the parties to the dispute to get out of the impasse and enter into negotiations "in good faith and without preconditions.”
Echoing him, Moroccan Interior Minister, Chakib Benmoussa, stressed that Morocco would take part in the second round of negotiations on Sahara, due in Manhasset (New York outskirts) on August 10, “in a climate of trust, confidence and openness.”
Morocco “is firmly convinced of the justness and the credibility of its cause”, he went on, adding that the initiative is likely to signal a new page in the history of the Great Maghreb, based on cooperation and solidarity, so that the region’s countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania and Libya) can face up to challenges, face threats lurking around Maghreban people and establish safety and stability in this area, which is targeted by dangers and covetousness.
In accordance with the UNSG resolution 1754 (of April 30) that called upon the parties to the dispute to enter into negotiations "in good faith and without preconditions," Morocco and the Polisario held the first round of UN-sponsored negotiations on the Sahara in Manhasset. The parties have agreed to resume talks in the same venue in the second week of August.
The United Nations Security Council, which convened on July 12 in a closed-door session to discuss the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon’s report on the status and progress of the negotiations on Sahara, voiced hope that the parties will use the next round of negotiations to engage "in good faith in substantial negotiations."