French MPs hail Morocco's will to reach political solution to Sahara issue
Morocco-France, Politics, 5/28/2001

A French parliamentary delegation, led by chairman of the foreign affairs committee at the national Assembly, Francois Loncle, visited on Friday the Moroccan southern city of Laayoune.

The delegation members held meetings with elected representatives, heads of tribes, delegates of local associations and representatives of the civil society as well as Moroccan sahrawis who were forcibly detained by the separatist polisario gang and who managed to escape the sequestration camps.

The French mps were briefed on the Sahara dossier, the dire situation in the sequestration camps and the maneuvers hatched by the polisario to foil the Sahara issue settlement process and deprive Sahrawi citizens from their right to participate in the UN-sponsored referendum.

The United Nations has been trying since the early nineties to hold a referendum in the Sahara --a Moroccan southern territory that was formerly under Spanish rule and that was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords.

The vote, which will give the people of the Sahara a choice between independence or integration with Morocco, has been repeatedly delayed because of the maneuvers of the separatist polisario which seeks to shrink the voters list.

Several members of the delegation hailed Morocco's will and efforts to reach a political solution to the Sahara issue and noted that the settlement of the issue was essential to the stability and to the economic and social development of the whole Maghreb region.

They also underlined the importance of the testimonies they heard during these meetings.

The French delegation visited several facilities and social-economic projects in the city.

The delegation which started its visit to Morocco Thursday held talks in Rabat with several Moroccan officials, including Prime Minister, Abderrahmane Youssoufi, Minister of the interior, Ahmed El-Midaoui, and speaker of the House of Representatives (lower house of the Moroccan parliament), Abdelouahed Radi.

Talks covered the economic and social situation in the Kingdom, the coming legislative elections (slated for 2002), relations between Morocco and the European Union, and coordination between Morocco and France in the prospect of the coming negotiations within the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Previous Stories:
  French MPs confer with Moroccan officials   (5/25/2001)
  Paris cannot play a mediation role in the fisheries dossier, minister   (5/10/2001)
  Situation of Moroccan France-settled community discussed in rabat   (5/10/2001)

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