"The autonomy project is a positive experience that preserves the social and cultural specificity of every region in the country," stressed Italian Senator, Valentino Perrin, adding this meeting aims to "explain a new concept which has been adopted by modern States, that is to say autonomy."
The Sahara conflict opposes Morocco to the Algeria-backed "Polisario" separatists who lay claims to Morocco's southern provinces, known as the Sahara, retrieved by the north African kingdom from Spanish rule in 1975, under the Madrid accords.
Spanish HR activist, Ines Galvegas noted that "it is high time to implement the autonomy project as a political solution to this conflict.”
Several other human rights advocators also deemed “non-democratic” Polisario’s attempts to hinder the participation of some groups in the conference.
“Once again, the [Algeria-backed] Polisario and its extremist friends have displayed a non-democratic attitude by preventing a delegation of the Canary Islands from taking part in the conference, just because this delegation supports the autonomy project,” Ramadan Messaoudi, Chairman of a Sahrawi HR organization told TVM.