This proposal, he was quoted as saying by government spokesman, Nabil Benabdellah, abides by the international legality and promotes the right to self-determination.
Mr. Benmoussa was speaking on the first round of talks over the Sahara, which took place on June 18-19 in Manhasset, New York outskirts, between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario separatists in accordance with the Security Council's resolution 1754 that called for the parties involved in the 30-year-old Sahara issue to launch direct talks.
The Interior Minister recalled that Morocco's proposal to negotiate an autonomy statute in the Sahara gained large international support because, he said, it is the only means to unite all the Sahrawis and put an end to the humanitarian sufferings of "our brothers in the Tindouf camps," south-western Algeria.
Morocco and the Polisario are disputing control of the Sahara, Morocco’s Southern Provinces, a Spanish colony that was ceded to Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accord. The Polisario is laying claims to this territory and is holding thousands of Moroccan in the Tindouf camps.
The U.N. Secretary General had called on the parties to engage in negotiations in good faith and without preconditions on the basis of the latest developments of the issue with a view to getting the Sahara issue out of the impasse.
Mr. Benmoussa - member of the negotiating delegation - recalled that the chairman of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS, representing the majority of Sahara inhabitants), Khalihenna Ould Errachid had asserted during the first round of negotiations that the autonomy project is the sole consensual and realistic solution that can settle the Sahara issue, for it guarantees the respect of Morocco’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and “openly and concretely” recognizes Sahrawis’ legitimate right to manage their affairs.
The official regretted that the “other party sticks to its old stances and forwards no constructive proposals that can get the issue out of the current deadlock,” deploring that the Polisario do not heed “the international community’s calls for good faith and responsible negotiations.”
On the second round of talks, slated for the second week of this coming August, Mr. Benmoussa affirmed that Morocco will undertake this round, armed with principles based on the sovereignty of the north-west African kingdom on its lands, and backed by the mobilization of all the country’s components.
The government spokesman also quoted Deputy Foreign Minister, Taieb Fassi Fihri (he was speaking at the cabinet meeting) as stressing that Morocco only negotiates the autonomy proposal, building on the failure and the inapplicability of the previous proposals.