"The Sahara is a Moroccan territory and should stay under the Moroccan sovereignty. We have never changed our stand," Senegalese President, Abdoulaye Wade told MAP during a stopover at Mohammed V airport.

   "I strongly encourage discussions so that we reach solutions to the existing problems," the Senegalese president noted.

   "We believe that it is not the power that creates right, it already exists. We support Morocco, because we believe that Morocco is right."
 
    The Senegalese support comes on the eve of the third round of the negotiations over the Sahara, which will kick off on Monday in Manhasset (outskirts of New York).

    Addressing the Moroccan-Senegalese relations, Mr. Wade stressed that there are no problems between the two countries. "There are always small incidents in life […] we are past such things," he noted.

    Morocco and Senegal have recently ended a two-week diplomatic row by deciding the "immediate return" of their ambassadors to their respective posts.
  
    This decision ended the diplomatic dispute between the two countries over a Senegalese former foreign minister's comments supporting the Algerian-backed separatist movement "Polisario" at their so-called congress in the buffer zone of Tifariti.
 
    Morocco had responded on December 19 by instructing its ambassador in Dakar to return, for three days, to Rabat in order to provide "more explanations" about Jacques Baudin's comments and the Senegalese authorities reacted, two days later, by recalling their envoy "for consultations."