Visiting Moroccan Foreign Minister, Taib Fassi Fihri, held, here Tuesday, talks with German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on the Sahara issue as well as on several points regarding the Middle East, the Maghreb, the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and the situation in Africa.

Participants at a roundtable in Geneva over the Sahara were unanimous in stressing the relevance of the Moroccan autonomy initiative in the southern provinces, which was, they said, "the best solution" to this ongoing conflict. 

Former Polisario members who have returned to Morocco called on Algeria and Polisario to "enroll in the spirit of realism and compromise advocated by the international community" to find a settlement to the dispute over the Sahara issue.

Morocco insisted that it will not accept, under any circumstances, that the status quo be modified in the Tifariti zone, which has been, since the 1991 UN-brokered ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario, free from any civil or military presence.

Mauritanian People's Rally, reiterated on Tuesday its and full support to the Moroccan initiative to grant the Sahara considerable autonomy within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.