"We should not remain prisoners of the Sahara issue (...), we should move ahead with the Maghreb integration," Fassi Fihri said in a press conference co-chaired by Spanish peer, Miguel Angel Moratinos.

   Algeria and the Polisario should "seize the opportunity offered by the Moroccan autonomy initiative" to settle, once and for all, the Sahara conflict through dialogue and negotiations, in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Fassi Fihri said during the conference held at the end of the 7th meeting of the Western Mediterranean Foreign Ministers (April 20-21).

   The minister stressed the need to give Christopher Ross, personal envoy of the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG), a chance to find a final and lasting solution to the conflict.

   Morocco proposed in 2007 a plan to grant autonomy to the populations of the Sahara, under its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

   The autonomy initiative provides “a democratic answer” to the conflict and meets the expectations of the region’s populations, the parties, and the UNSC which called for dialogue to reach a negotiated solution, he stressed.

   It secures democracy and freedom of speech for the Sahrawi populations, Fassi Fihri said, adding that the proposal is the fruit of internal consultations with friendly countries such as Spain. 

   The meeting of the Western Mediterranean Foreign Ministers is part of the 5+5 Dialogue launched in 1990 in Rome. The grouping musters the Maghreb Arab Union (UMA - Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania and Libya) and five European Western Mediterranean countries namely Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Malta.

   The 5+5 seeks to offer new opportunities at the political, economic and cultural levels to step up cooperation between member states and boost dialogue between the UMA and the European Union.

Source: MAP
News and events concerning Western Sahara issue/ Corcas