"The UK has backed for long a political solution to the Sahara conflict under the aegis of the UN," the British diplomat told the press, after a meeting with the "Royal Advisory Council for Sahrawi Affairs" chairman, Khali Hanna Ould Er-Rachid, stressing that "London still maintains this stance."

    Morocco is devising an autonomy project as a solution to the Sahara conflict, triggered in 1975 by the Algeria-backed "Polisario" separatists. The Polisario lays claims to Morocco's Southern Provinces, known as the Sahara, which Morocco retrieved from Spanish rule under the Madrid accord signed in 1975.

    The United Kingdom will follow "with great interest" the autonomy project, which Morocco proposes for its southern provinces, noted the British diplomat, adding that his country "will spare no efforts at the UN to reach, as soon as possible, a solution to this conflict."