Moroccan daily calls Algeria to be neutral in Sahara issue
Morocco, Politics, 1/28/2000

Moroccan Al Alam daily has called Algeria to adopt a total and genuine neutrality in the Sahara issue and to give true significance to a recent statement by its foreign minister, Youssef Yousfi, who denied that Moroccan-Algerian relations are linked to the Sahara issue.

In its Friday editorial, the daily of the Istiqlal Party-- which is participating in the center-left coalition government led by socialist Abderrahmane Youssoufi-- called Algeria to adopt a total and genuine neutrality in the Sahara issue and to evidence such a neutrality by denying asylum on its territory to the separatists.

Algeria should equally stop supplying the separatists with weapons, money and food and put an end to the diplomatic backing and internal protection it provides them, the daily said, adding that the Algerian foreign minister should translate his statement into acts and adapt his stand to the international community and to the UN settlement plan on the Sahara.

For the daily, the recognition of a puppet state proclaimed by a gang of separatists that are not recognized by the international community is contrary to international legality.

The Algeria-backed separatists are claiming the independence of the southern Moroccan provinces, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975. The UN is now trying to hold a referendum in the territory to determine whether it will remain part of the kingdom or set up on its own.

Previous Stories:
  Istiqlal party rejects results of UN identification operation in Sahara   (1/25/2000)
  Moroccan representatives worried over results of UN identification in sahar   (1/20/2000)
  Morocco calls applicants to identification to follow up their applications   (1/19/2000)

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