Washington - Regional integration in the Maghreb cannot be achieved without finding a solution to the Sahara issue that takes into account the Moroccan proposal to grant broad autonomy to the region, a report by the "Potomac Institute" said Tuesday.

Morocco's plan to grant autonomy to its southern provinces, the Sahara, is a "serious initiative" to reach a final solution to the Sahara conflict, Head of the Unit for the Middle East and North Africa at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Helena Tuuri, said, here Wednesday.

MEP Alain Hutchinson, Vice-Chairman of the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries in the European Parliament (EP), denounced on Monday organized leaks for some media of a draft report on the visit to Morocco by the delegation that will be debated Tuesday.

Participants in a conference held on Thursday at the UN office in Geneva decried the forced disappearances of Moroccan Sahrawis in the Tindouf camps, south west of Algeria, describing the autonomy initiative proposed by Morocco as the only solution to end the plight of the families sequestrated in these camps.