Sahara partition is inadmissible, affirms Benaissa
Morocco, Politics, 5/1/2002

Morocco on Tuesday renewed its categorical rejection of the partition of the Sahara as an "inadmissible" option.

"We cannot accept any kind of partition of our Saharan provinces," Moroccan foreign affairs and cooperation minister, Mohamed Benaissa, told the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat daily.

The official underlined that "Morocco's Saharan space stretches from the city of Agadir until the borders with Mauritania and we cannot accept any kind of partition of our Saharan provinces."

"Morocco will never accept any obstacles of any kind between the Kingdom and sisterly Mauritania," said Benaissa, adding "Morocco's civilizational dimension is translated by the human and cultural extension in its south."

"The Moroccan large Saharan space has been throughout history stretching until the borders with Mauritania," he insisted.

Benaissa renewed Morocco's rejection of the partition proposal, cited in a report by the United Nations Secretary General to Security Council last February among four options. The partition is backed by Algeria.

"The idea of partition is per se contrary to peoples' right to self-determination and in which Algeria wrapped itself to challenge Morocco's right to recover its southern provinces and unify its territories," he said.

The partition will inevitably lead to the "division and dispersion of populations and tribes, a fact that will perpetuate the conflict and lead, god forbid, to a civil war whose range and consequences are unpredictable," Benaissa warned.

Previous Stories:
  Calls to free Moroccan detainees in Polisario jails   (4/30/2002)
  No bargaining over territorial integrity, Morocco   (4/27/2002)
  Middle East, Moroccan Sahara at focus of King Mohammed - Annan talks   (4/26/2002)

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