The Moroccan autonomy proposal in the southern provinces is "constructive" and "likely to bring a solution to the Sahara conflict," said Iranian ambassador to Morocco, Mr. Wahid Ahmadi, stressing that his country's position regarding the dispute "has not changed since Iran has froze all its relations with Polisario 17 years ago".  The Iranian diplomat, who was speaking at a meeting with the Moroccan press, Tuesday in Rabat, said that his country welcomed "any initiative to help resolve this conflict." On whether Iranians took part in the pseudo festivities organised by Polisario in the Tifariti buffer zone, Mr. Wahid Ahmadi replied that "this information comes from the Algerian media."

A Sahrawi Family, which benefited from the 17th exchange family visit organized in 2008 from and to the southern city of Laayoune, decided not to return to the Camps of Tindouf (Southwest Algeria), to settle once and for good in Morocco.Souni Ould al-Hafd, 88, and three of his children decided to return to Morocco to end years of suffering away from Morocco since he was kidnapped by the Polisario in 1976. "I returned to my country to which we belong," Sheikh Souni said, adding that his decision to stay in the homeland, along with his three children, stems from "our attachment to the unity of our country, whose efforts we support in order to unite families."

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.

Amnesty International (AI) has voiced concern about restrictions on freedom of circulation and impunity prevailing in Tindouf camps, southwestern Algeria. "For Amnesty International, the impunity of those accused of human rights abuses in the Polisario camps remains a source of main concern," AI Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa program told the Moroccan news Agency "MAP".  Speaking on the fringes of the presentation of AI 2008 report on the state of the world's human rights, Mr. Luther also cited among the violations committed in the camps cases of forced disappearances, torture and detentions in secret places.