The last thing Africa needs is another unviable state, which would be a hotbed of terrorist and criminal networks, as evidenced by the serious turn of the Malian crisis and proved collusion between elements of the Polisario and the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), warned participants at a conference in Washington.

The UN Security Council will hold consultations behind closed doors on the Sahara issue on April 17, according to the work program of the Executive Body for the current month released Tuesday.

The Vice President of the Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Committee at the National Assembly and mayor of Grenoble said last Saturday in Oujda, after a working visit to the city leading a delegation comprising elected officials and managers of the municipality of Grenoble, that autonomy proposal is a sound platform and a solid foundation for negotiations to reach a final and lasting solution to the Sahara conflict through enlarged regionalization.

 A delegation of MEPs, currently on a working visit in the Kingdom, arrived Saturday evening in Laayoune where they will hold meetings with elected officials, civil society actors and local officials, visit development projects and witness the socio-economic development of the southern provinces.

The status quo in the Sahara “is no longer tenable” and the entire Maghreb region would benefit from a solution of this issue through a political process, said President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.