Mr. Abderrahmane, who was speaking in the name of the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahbmoud Abbas, made it clear that "President Abbas did not dispatch an emissary of the PLO or of the Palestinian Authority to this congress."

He said the Authority "refutes the use of the Palestinian issue for political ends that serve neither the Palestinian interests nor the Arab interests.

The Polisario are holding their congress in the region of Tifariti in a buffer zone delineated under the UN-brokered ceasefire agreement signed in 1991 between Morocco and the Algeria-backed separatists.

 The congress has aroused the indignation of the north African kingdom, which called on the UN to prevent the holding the meeting.