Moratinos upbeat on solution to Sahara issue, Spanish press
Morocco-Spain, Politics, 10/27/2004

Spanish foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos said on Monday he does not share UN Secretary General "pessimism" on the Sahara issue, adding solution to the conflict "is not that far," according to reports of the Spanish press.

Moratinos who was speaking to a group of Spanish journalists on the fringes of the 11th edition of the Mediterranean Forum in Paris, reiterated his country's will to speed up a solution "within a new dynamic entente " to the Sahara dispute that is opposing Morocco to the Algeria-backed Polisario movement claiming the separation of the Moroccan Southern provinces retrieved in 1975 by Morocco from Spanish colonialism.

World leaders should be "responsible" face to a worrisome situation, said Moratinos adding he attended a four-party meeting on the Sahara parallel to the Paris forum with French, Moroccan and Algerian peers. He played down criticism on Spanish diplomatic actions regarding the Sahara, stressing his government is committed "to trying to find a way out to the conflict" under the UN supervision.

The Spanish diplomat wished the Un Security Council would adopt a resolution on the Sahara on October 31 that "would be consensual enough to continue to work for peace in the region," adding Spain endeavours to help Morocco and Algeria work "in a natural logic of rapprochement, entente and cooperation."

Previous Stories:
  Madrid keen to foster agreement among parties in Sahara conflict, official   (10/26/2004)
  Moratinos: Madrid abstention in UN vote on Sahara due to its conviction of consensus importance   (10/23/2004)
  Grandson of Rif Battle hero denies Spanish paper allegations   (10/23/2004)

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