El Comercio: one of the most problematic issues pushed you to make this visit, the conflict in the Sahara

Khalihenna Ould Errachid: the Kingdom of Morocco recovered the region in 1975, after the signing of an agreement with Spain, in conformity with the ties that bind our country to this state after a protectorate period.

Between 1956 and 1975, we continue to recover areas that were scattered after the Spanish protectorate. The last area we recovered was the Sahara due to border conflict with Algeria, and due to the Cold War.

El Comercio: It turned into war 

Khalihenna Ould Errachid: This conflict had a number of dimensions, the first was the Cold War (1976-1991), and the second (1991-2001) was the UN Attempts to organize a referendum of self-determination in the region. Both failed, and that is why the conflict is now before the Security Council. Now, there is no war, now there is a political conflict to this day in a complete standstill. To overcome this problem, parties were recommended to seek a consensus and make concessions.

El Comercio: Morocco has a proposal

Khalihenna Ould Errachid: We have an unprecedented initiative in the African continent, seeking to resolve this dispute through the methodology that was used to solve conflicts in Western Europe, ie granting political autonomy to Sahrawis in order to be able to conduct their own affairs under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Morocco.

The Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs was founded by His Majesty King Mohammed VI to shape this project, which corresponds the historic aspirations of the majority of the Arabs .Morocco plans to submit it to the United Nations Security Council next April. This is why we are making consultations with friendly countries to consult them on the project.

El Comercio: Is the project purely a Moroccan initiative or was it proposed following contacts with the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic?

Khalihenna Ould Errachid: This project is a petition to the Security Council. The Republic that you talked about doest not exist, it is a mirage. Sahara is a Moroccan territory, and what you are talking about is the Polisario movement, which is representing a very small minority living in Algeria, not in the Sahara. 

El Comercio: What is, then, the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic?

Mohammed Benaissa: this Republic does not exist, it is not a member of the United Nations, the League of Arab States; no European or Asian country recognizes it, two thirds of African countries do not recognize it. In the American continent, there are only six countries that recognized its existence and we can not talk about sovereignty without recognition from the international community. All independent countries are recognized by the international community.
 
Khalihenna Ould Errachid: it's just propaganda spread by Polisario. This Republic exists only on the internet not in the Sahara.

El Comercio: There are talks about a series of denunciations against Morocco on cases of genocide of Sahrawis

Mohammed Benaissa: No kind of what you are saying happened.
 
Khalihenna Ould Errachid: That is what some press say and does not deserve response. Morocco is a pilot country in Africa and the Arab world in the field of human rights, it is a democratic country; it has political parties and civil society and free institutions protecting human rights and where opinion is free and sacred. We are a model in Africa at this level.

El Comercio: but Spanish judge Baltasar will head an investigation on this issue 

Khalihenna Ould Errachid: This is a creation of the press, Judge Garzon did not issue such declarations. The press that can give accurate information, but it can also give false information for other reasons. How can we talk about collective genocide in the Sahara, where there are not hundreds of thousands of people; Morocco is so close to Europe. All the World is watching us; we cannot hide a genocide.

El Comercio: it seems strange though to promote all this amount of misinformation 

Khalihenna Ould Errachid: when there is a movement promoting information of this type, they ends in the press or the Internet. This is very similar to the situation of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, any person who checks information on the Internet may believe it exists.

Bruno Rivas
  April 23, 2007
Elcomercio.com.pe

(News on Western Sahara issue/ Corcas)