In a letter addressed on Tuesday to UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, by Morocco's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, El Mostafa Sahel, Morocco deplored that once again, the Polisario, encouraged and backed by Algeria, organized, from May 19 through 22, military gatherings and political events in the zone of Tifariti, east of the berm, "openly and publicly before the UN peace-keeping Mission in the Sahara (MINURSO)."

    The polisario had, last Decemeber, held a so-called congress in the buffer zone of Tifariti. Morocco had described the move as a "blatant violation" to the ceasefire, under which the north African country withdrew its troops from this region.

   The letter noted that in view of their repetitive nature, the false propaganda and the belligerent language accompanying them, these acts seriously undermine the ongoing negotiations process, launched by the Security Council and supported by the international community with a view to reaching a final political solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara, thanks to the momentum created by the Moroccan autonomy proposal.

    The north African country underlined that such acts defy the authority of the Security Council, which had, in its resolution 1813 of April 30, 2008, called on the parties to the dispute to work in an atmosphere propitious for dialogue in order to ensure the success of negotiations. These acts, the letter went on, are likely to exacerbate the various security threats besetting the Sahel and the Sahara region.

    The letter added that these provocative acts stem from a strategy deliberately followed, by the Polisario and those who back it, with the specific political aim of undermining the political process under way and the momentum of peaceful settlement, laboriously created by the international community.

    The letter also deplored that far from showing realism and the spirit of compromise called for by resolution 1813 to guarantee success for the negotiations, the Polisario and its allies confirm, through their acts, that they favor the impasse, at the expense of the continuation of sufferings of the Tindouf camps populations, southwest of Algeria.

    The dispute between the Morocco and Polisario over the Sahara goes back to 1976 when the separatist movement, backed by Algeria, started claiming its independence. The former Spanish colony was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accord.

    In a bid to solve the dispute, Morocco and the Polisario have so far held four rounds of UN-sponsored rounds of negotiations in New York, and agreed on a fifth round without setting the date.