"We should examine innovating solutions to the Sahara issue in the AU and I mean Morocco's autonomy proposal," Gadio told MAP in an allusion to the Moroccan proposal, which will be made public soon, to solve the conflict that erupted in 1976 following the Polisario's claims to separate the kingdom's Southern provinces, known as the Sahara. The former Spanish colony was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accord signed with Spain and Mauritania
 
    The Senegalese minister underlined that since the Banjul session, the Sahara issue has witnessed important developments, noting that though the Organization faces hindrances, it does not examine innovating solutions that the international community aspire to as reflected by the abstention of the majority of member countries of the United nations General Assembly to vote, last December 14 in New York, an Algerian-draft resolution on the Sahara.
 
    In Banjul, he said, Morocco’s friends had questioned the report submitted by the African Union, deeming it “unbalanced, biased and does not reflect reality.” 
 
    “We urge all African countries to be aware that the international community seeks new solutions, and to understand that the AU does not have the right to exclude itself from a debate that concerns Africans,” he said, noting that the Organization does not want to question its stance and let the UN take care of this issue.
 
    Cheikh Gadio stressed that he would put anew this issue before the African Union conference when its works resume on Tuesday afternoon.