Speaking in an interview with the Canada-based electronic paper "Akhbar Al Arab", released on Tuesday by the Moroccan Arabic-speaking daily "Rissalat Al Oumma", Mr. Malek affirmed that "the genuine solution to the Sahara issue (…) lies in achieving unity and not discord."

    Stressing that Algeria bears historical responsibility for creating the phony entity of Polisario in the Sahara, he recalled that the late Algerian President, Houari Boumedienne, has exploited the presence of many students in Algerian universities "to settle his accounts with Morocco."

    "Everyone knows the role played by the Algerian military in creating and protecting the Polisario," said Mr. Malek, pointing out that "since 1976, the Algerian authorities have spent over USD 200Bn on the separatists. A sum that could have been used to get the Algerian people out of poverty and misery," he underlined.

  The dispute over Morocco's Southern Provinces, the Sahara, broke out in 1976 with Polisario's claims to the former Spanish colony that was ceded to Morocco a year earlier under the Madrid Accord.

    Thousands of Moroccan civilians are held against their will by the Polisario in the camps of Tindouf, south-western Algeria, after having been lured into joining the movement in the late 70s.

    On the issue of the Moroccans held against their will in these camps, the journalist made it clear that “since the beginning of the conflict with Morocco, the Algerian authorities have resorted to exploit those people in a vile and despicable way so as to create a phony entity in the Sahara."

    As regards Morocco’s recent call to re-open land borders with neighboring Algeria, Mr. Malek noted that this issue depends on various interests that are only known by the Algerian military.

News and events concerning Western Sahara issue/ Corcas