The TVM channel said the Spanish Popular Party Euro-MP told a meeting with MPs and members of the political bureau of the Party for Progress and Socialism (PPS) the autonomy decision will contribute to a solution to the Sahara dispute, especially that it is obvious that it is impossible to hold a referendum on the issue.
The UNO had decided to hold a referendum to settle the Sahara conflict that was triggered in the mid seventies by the claim of the Algeria-backed "Polisario" to separate the provinces from Morocco, which retrieved them from Spain at the time under the Madrid accords.
Fernandez called on all the parties to the conflict to engage in a democratic and frank dialogue to deal with the issue that lasted too long.
Member of the PPS political bureau and of the Royal Advisory Council for Sahrawi Affairs (CORCAS), Lattafi Ahmed Salem told TVM “we explained to the Spanish official the autonomy proposal is likely to lastingly settle the tension prevailing in the region and empower the inhabitants run their affairs in the framework of Moroccan Sovereignty”.
The CORCAS is a body dedicated to the economic and social development of the southern provinces and the safeguarding of their cultural identity. It is made up of elected officials, who constitute more than 50% of its members and members of the new emerging elite that will give a new breath to the Council, which also includes civil society members that work in the human rights and social fields.
The council is a framework of consultation that assists the king in all the issues related to defending the kingdom’s territorial integrity and national unity, promote economic and social development of the southern provinces and preserve their cultural identity.