The Spanish Government on Thursday pledged to step up efforts in the search of a solution to the three-decade long Sahara dispute opposing Morocco to the Algerian-backed separatist movement "Polisario".

The pledge was made by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos at a press conference in Madrid after  meeting with a Moroccan delegation of senior officials who came to brief the Spanish government on the kingdom's proposal to grant autonomy to the Sahara.
 
He said  Prime Minister Jose luis-Rodriguez Zapatero and himself "listened with great interest the ideas that have been exposed" by the Moroccan delegation. The visit to Spain is part of an international campaign to explain the autonomy proposal being devised by Morocco in an attempt to put an end to the dispute over the former Spanish colony. Morocco retrieved its Southern Provinces,- the Sahara-  by virtue of the Madrid Accords signed in 1975 with Spain and Mauritania. The Polisario, backed by Morocco's eastern neighbor, Algeria, has ever since claimed independence of the territory.
 
Moratinos pledged his country's "commitment to work actively to overcome the stalemate", and underlined the importance of  "dialogue between the parties in the context of the United-nations"  in order to reach "a final, lasting political and mutually acceptable solution" to the dispute.
 
Explaining Morocco’s proposal to the media, Moroccan Minister of the Interior Chakib Benmoussa said it represents a  "major contribution to security, stability and development in the Mediterranean region."
 
“While respecting the fundamental principles of the kingdom, the autonomy project is in line with the regional specificities,” Benmoussa said, stressing that the project is in accordance with the international standards and meets the expectations of the international community and the recommendations of the Security Council.” 
 
The delegation, which includes Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs, Taieb Fassi Fihri, Minister Delegate in the Interior, Fouad Ali El Himma, and head of the Moroccan intelligence, Yassine Mansouri,  had early this week visited Paris where it was received by French President Jacques Chirac who described the autonomy proposal as “ Constructive”.