Commenting the publication of the UN Secretary General's Report on the talks, Mr. Naciri said, at a press briefing following the weekly cabinet meeting, "Morocco, society, institutions and government, in a rare consensus, is determined to go as far as possible in the negotiation process, and is positively in line with the Security Council's approach, implemented by the UN Secretary General."
Reiterating Morocco's full support to this process in order to reach a solution called for by the international community, namely a political solution accepted by all parties, the minister stressed that all efforts made by the north African kingdom "go in this direction."
The dispute between the North African Kingdom and the Polisario over Morocco’s southern provinces, the Sahara, dates back to 1976 when the separatists, triggered by Algeria, claimed the territory retrieved a year earlier from Spanish rule under the Madrid Accords.
In a bid to solve the Sahara issue, Morocco and the Polisario met last month (March 16-18) in a fourth round of negotiations in Manhasset (New York). The first three rounds were held respectively in June (18-19), August (10-11) and January (7-9) in conformity with UN Security Council resolution 1754 that called for negotiations "without preconditions" and "in good faith".
Mr. Naciri, has also voiced hope that the other party would engage, as Morocco, in the process, stating that "the other party is not only the Polisario, but all those who support them and dictate their decisions."
United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has called, on Wednesday, on the parties to the Sahara conflict to show realism and a spirit of compromise to solve the issue.
"I welcome the parties' commitment to continue the process of negotiations as stated in the final communiqué issued at their fourth round of talks," he said in a report to the Security Council on the issue.
He insisted that the consolidation of the status quo is not an acceptable outcome of the current process of negotiations, voicing confidence that the international community share this view.
The official recommended that the UNSC reiterate its call upon Morocco and the Polisario to enter into "more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations."
In reaction to Ban’s Report, a communiqué of Morocco's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, issued in New York, said that the north African country “shares the view of the Secretary General to preserve the current dynamic.
The Kingdom concurs with his relevant notice that only realism and a spirit of compromise can allow the ongoing negotiation process to reach a negotiated political solution to the Sahara regional conflict,” noting that “for this purpose, while calling to enter into more intensive and substantive negotiations, the Secretary General thus strengthens the continuously reiterated demand by the Moroccan side that is animated by its sincere will, to make this process progress.”