Morocco, Spain agree to re-launch search for Sahara conflict solution, communique
Morocco-Spain, Politics, 6/8/2005

Morocco and Spain agreed on the need to "re-launch the search for a solution to the Sahara conflict which has been going on for more than thirty years," a communique of the Spanish foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The communique, released at the end of talks in Madrid between the two countries foreign ministers, Mohamed Benaissa and Miguel Angel Moratinos, noted the timeliness for the UN Secretary General to reactivate the political mediation between the parties as well as the peace process.

The Sahara dispute opposes Morocco to the separatist "Polisario" movement, which has been claiming the separation of the Moroccan southern provinces since 1975 when Morocco completed its territorial integrity in the morrow of the Madrid accords.

Spanish foreign minister, Moratinos reiterated on the occasion the commitment of the Spanish government to work for seeking a just and lasting solution to the conflict in line with international legality and accepted by all.

The communiquŽ said Moratinos sent this past Friday a letter to the UNSG, Kofi Annan, urging him to appoint a personnel representative for the Sahara, part of Spanish diplomatic moves, which also include the dispatching of Spanish Secretary of State to foreign affairs to Algiers, Tindouf (hosting "Polisario" camps), Rabat and Nouakchott.

Besides, the communique went on to say, the Spanish permanent representation to the UNO in New York keeps on intense contacts with representatives of the main actors in the conflict and with members of 'friends groups' that work for the settlement of the Sahara issue.

Benaissa on a few day visit to Spain had talks with peer Moratinos on bilateral, regional and international issues, including the consolidation of Moroccan-Spanish relations, the Euro-Mediterranean process, the construction of the Arab Maghreb and the Sahara.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco never refuses objective visitors, ambassador   (6/7/2005)
  Benaissa calls Spanish media to be unbiased in Sahara issue   (6/7/2005)
  Morocco denies entry to pro-Polisario Spanish delegation   (6/6/2005)

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