Maghreban political parties voice attachment to Maghreb unity
Tunisia, Politics, 6/12/2000

Maghreban political parties have voiced attachment to the unity of the Maghreb that they described as a strategic goal.

This came in a statement released in Tunis Sunday at the end of the second congress of the General Conference of Maghreban political parties held in Tunis June 10-11, with the participation of several political parties from Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, morocco and Tunisia.

The political parties pointed out that "the difficulties hampering Maghreban unity are conjunctural and can only consolidate our determination to reach our strategic goal and fulfil our peoples' aspirations` to unity and complementarity."

The five Maghreban states are gathered in the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) that was set up in 1989. The union is however paralyzed due to strained relations between some member countries.

The statement also called for the reactivation of the general conference of Maghreban political parties so that it fulfills its goals and urged the political parties to foster contacts with Maghreban officials at all levels and with the civil society.

The congress recommended that each political party sets up a panel that would spread information on the Arab Maghreb causes and urged the political parties to foster Maghreban peoples' awareness to the Maghreban unity as an inevitable choice. It likewise called for consolidating ties with other regional and international groupings and recommended greater solidarity and better coordination among Maghreban political parties to face up tendentious campaigns targeting the Maghreb.

The Arab states of the Maghreb should coordinate stands in their negotiations with other regional and international groupings and should speed up the setting up of a Maghreban free trade zone to ease the movement of persons and goods, the statement said.

The congress, which hailed the progress scored by Maghreban states at the level of democracy, called for the lifting definitively of the embargo against Libya and renewed backing to the Palestinian people in their struggle to recover their legitimate rights.

The congress voiced solidarity with Syria for the recovery of its occupied territories, called for the lifting of the embargo against Iraq and voiced satisfaction over the liberation of the Lebanese territories and the success of the civil entente plan in Algeria.

Previous Stories:
  Tunis, Tripoli call for urgent Arab summit   (6/5/2000)
  Tunisia, Libya call for Maghreban summit   (6/5/2000)
  Morocco, Tunisia call for a new start of Maghreb union   (5/25/2000)

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