Quoted by the Communication minister and Government Spokesperson, Mr. Khalid Naciri, Mr. Benmoussa made it clear that "it is impossible to reach a settlement without the full involvement of Morocco's eastern neighbor in the peace process," stressing, however, that "Algeria has no desire to close the Sahara file, but rather persists in its obstinacy and pushes the other party [the Polisario ] to further escalation and provocation in the [Tifariti] buffer zone." 

    Morocco withdrew its troops from this zone located at the border with Algeria in 1991 following the UN-brokered ceasefire.

    The Minister described as "an irresponsible attitude" the recent holding by the Polisario separatists of their so-called congress in this zone. He recalled that Morocco has expressed, in messages addressing the UN Secretary General, "its refusal of any change in the current situation and its rejection of the policy of the fait-accompli on its soil."
 

     Mr. Benmoussa also briefed the cabinet on the fourth round of the UN-facilitated negotiations on the Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario held in Manhasset, New York  (March 16-18), saying that the North African country attended these talks “with the same good faith and will it had shown during the previous rounds.”

    The fourth round ended with the parties agreeing to continue the negotiations at a date to be determined by common agreement. The previous three rounds were held at the same venue in June, August and January.

    The negotiations process was launched last year thanks to Morocco’s initiative to grant substantial autonomy to its southern provinces known as the Sahara, in a bid to put an end to this regional conflict which dates back to 1976 when the Polisario started laying claims to the former Spanish colony that was ceded to Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accords.

    Mr. Benmoussa deplored the fact that while Morocco was hoping that the fourth round would allow to engage in real negotiations based on the Moroccan initiative of autonomy (…) the other parties to the conflict (the Polisario and its mentor Algeria) “have opted for the selective reading of UN texts and resolutions, and interpreted them in a way which serves their interests.”

   These parties, he went on, do not yearn for solving the artificial conflict over the Sahara, but seek to trivialize these negotiations, recalling that the north African country has expressed its readiness to engage in a 5th round, the date of which will be decided after the presentation of the report of the UN Secretary General’s report by the end of April. (MAP)

News and events relating to Western Sahara issue / Corcas