Mr. Taeb Fassi Fihri said in an interview published Tuesday by "Al Hayat newspaper" that Morocco conducts daily consultations with the Secretariat General of the United Nations on the resumption of negotiations "on whether the new representative of the Secretary General will make a visit to the region before the 5th round of negotiations, to know at what level these negotiations would be held, with what agenda and more importantly, how to effectively implement the latest Security Council resolution referring to consensus, realism and credible efforts made by Morocco ".

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation insisted that Morocco did not present conditions in this regard, but wants to clarify the horizon to enable negotiations to advance and go to the heart of the matter as specifies the last Security Council resolution.

He said that Morocco is ready to discuss the content of the autonomy proposal and amend it, adding that contrary to what Polisario pretends, the Moroccan autonomy initiative is a serious offer and we are close to in-depth negotiations, as requested by the Security Council, reaffirming that autonomy is a form of self-determination in the modern sense. 

In this regard, Mr. Fassi Fihri said that the international call to find a political solution to this conflict, is a request to seek consensus and avoid choices under the settlement plan of 1991, that is to say, the self-determination referendum to choose between independence and integration.

He added that the idea of a political solution came in an explicit statement to that effect by the United Nations, when it became clear over time that the referendum can not be applied because of many objective reasons.

The minister said that Mr. James Baker, representing the UN Secretary General, had concluded for the failure to implement the referendum. Mr. Alvaro Soto came after him, proposing negotiations on autonomy, that Algeria and the Polisario refused. And the case has entered the current impasse since 2004. After the departure of Mr. Do Soto the Security Council multiplies asking parties to provide an effort to overcome the crisis and reach a political solution.

Mr. Fassi Fihri added that "since 2005, and during the visit of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and the announcement of the establishment of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs, Morocco has begun consultations with the parties and inhabitants of the southern provinces and presented the autonomy proposal in April 2007.
Source: MAP
News and events on Western Sahara issue / Corcas