Visiting Moroccan Foreign Minister, Taib Fassi Fihri, held, here Tuesday, talks with German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on the Sahara issue as well as on several points regarding the Middle East, the Maghreb, the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and the situation in Africa.
On the Sahara, the official recalled, in a statement to MAP following the meeting, that the UN Security Council confirmed the preeminence of Morocco’s autonomy proposal presented, last year, by the north African country to put an end to the 32-year dispute with the Polisario. The territory was retrieved from the Spanish rule in 1975 under the Madrid Accord. A year later, the Algerian-backed separatist movement "Polisario" started claiming independence of the territory.
He reiterated Morocco's readiness to bring this regional dispute to an end by reaching a final peaceful solution to the issue.
Regarding the Maghreb region (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Libya), the two parties insisted on the need to set up an integrated Maghreb for political, strategic, economic and sociocultural considerations.
They also raised the Barcelona process that will be enhanced by the Mediterranean Union initiative, proposed by French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, which can contribute to establishing peace and security in the Mediterranean and bridge the development divide between the two shores.
Mr. Fassi Fihri had also held talks with several German officials.
Source: MAP
Western Sahara issue / Corcas