At a meeting Monday with a delegation of the Royal Advisory Council for Sahrawi Affairs (CORCAS), members of the House of Representatives and of the "Morocco Caucus" hailed the democratic and the avant-garde characteristics of the project, whether at the Arab, African or maghrebin level.

    "The Autonomy project complies with the principles that the United States seek to promote," Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, representative of Florida and member of US Foreign Affairs commission told MAP, adding "we will keep on working to help Morocco settle the Sahara dispute."

    As to congressman Phil English, he described the initiative as "a wonderful contribution to settle the Sahara dispute."

    Morocco is working out the autonomy project as a solution to the Sahara conflict, triggered in 1975 by the Algeria-backed "Polisario." The separatists lays claims to Morocco’s Southern Provinces, known as the Sahara. The former Spanish colony was retrieved by Morocco under the Madrid accord signed in 1975.

    For his part, CORCAS chairman, Khelli Henna Ould Rachid underlined that the autonomy project is a win-win solution for the Sahara dispute because it protects the kingdom’s territorial integrity and guarantees autonomy for all the citizens of this region.

    Visiting CORCAS delegation is also scheduled to meet with administration officials, prominent NGOs, think-tanks, religious and community leaders and the Moroccan-American community.