The ambassador of Portugal in Rabat, Joao Rosa La, affirmed the stance of his country at the end of a meeting with the chairman of the Royal Advisory Council for Sahara Issues (CORCAS), Khalihenna Ould Errachid, on the autonomy project which Morocco proposes to solve the Sahara dispute.
The dispute erupted in 1975 following the claims of the Algeria-backed separatists, The Polisario, to separate Morocco's Southern Provinces -The Sahara- from the rest of the country.
Morocco is mulling a project to grant large autonomy to these provinces under the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the north African kingdom.
“I came to discuss with the chairman of the CORCAS in order to collect information about this [autonomy] project, on the eve of the debate scheduled at the Security Council of the UN concerning the report of the Secretary General of the United Nations on the Sahara,” said Rosa La.
The diplomat recalled that his country has abstained during the vote of the resolution on self-determination submitted by Algeria at the 4th commission of the UN, deploring the lack of a consensual text between Morocco and Algeria in this respect.