The text, recommended by the foreign ministers to the summit of heads of State and governments (to be held Saturday) under the proposal of the Cuban presidency does not mention the settlement plan nor the Baker Peace Plan II, concerning this dispute.

    Morocco and Algeria have been at loggerheads because of the latter's out-and-out support to a separatist movement, the Polisario, that lays claims to Morocco's southern provinces, known as the Sahara. The provinces were retrieved by Morocco from Spanish rule in 1975 under the Madrid Accords signed with Spain and Mauritania.

    Through the decision to definitely bury the settlement plan of the former US Foreign Minister, NAM goes in line with the Security Council and backs the position of the UN Secretary General who did not mention the plan in his report past April.

    The Movement also disregards for the first time since 1991 the settlement plan as a solution to the Sahara dispute.

    Algeria was the only country to try to include paragraphs on the Sahara issue in the Final Declaration of the summit, but participants pointed out the issue concerns Morocco and Algeria only.

    In fact, the text that the Cuban chairmanship of the movement presented to the foreign ministers as its own is the outcome of consultations with the Moroccan and the Algerian delegations.

    The draft text urges the parties and the States of the region to fully cooperation with the UNSG and his personal envoy to reach a political and mutually acceptable settlement of the conflict.

    Morocco’s endeavor in this regard was supported by several African, Latin American and Arab countries.