Delegation of French senate visits Laayoune
Morocco-France, Politics, 10/4/1999

A delegation from the foreign affairs committee at the French senate, paid an information visit to the Moroccan southern city of Laayoune on Saturday.

The delegation, led by the committee chairman, Xavier Villepin, visited a number of socio-economic development projects in the city, including a sea water desalination unit, and several industrial plants.

The French delegation was briefed on the investments poured in the province and how they are used to promote local and regional development, as well as on Morocco's struggle to defend its independence and unity.

Delegates of Sahrawi women associations and a number of Sahrawis, who defected the polisario and returned home; depicted before the French delegation the tragic situation of the populations sequestered by the polisario in the tindouf camps (south-western Algeria) and asked the senators to inform the French, European and international public opinion on these realties, in a bid to contribute to lifting the blockade on these populations and enable them to return home.

The polisario, an algerian-backed guerilla movement, is claiming the independence of the Sahara, a former Spanish colony that was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords.

The U.N is now trying to hold a referendum in the territory, to determine whether the Sahara will set up on its own or remain part of Morocco. A U.N mission, the MINURSO, is currently deployed in the region to supervise the various phases of the referendum.

The French delegation visited the MINURSO headquarters in Laayoune and held a meeting with some executives of the U.N mission.

The head of the French delegation told MAP bureau here upon leaving the city that he is impressed by the Moroccan people's attachment to the throne and by their unfailing mobilization behind their sovereign.

Xavier Villepin and his accompanying delegation had conferred earlier in the week in Rabat with several members of the cabinet, including prime minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi, and with members of the parliament.

Speaker of the chamber of advisers (upper house), Jalal Essaid, called at a meeting with the French delegation for the holding of a joint scientific conference on the bi-cameral system to expound the experience of Morocco and France in the field.

The French side welcomed the idea as likely to promote cooperation and dialogue between the two countries' parliaments.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco did not attend African summit in Libya, as it suspends membership in OAU   (9/29/1999)
  Morocco renews full backing to U.N. efforts to close Sahara dossier   (9/22/1999)
  Gaddafi advises polisario chief to return to morocco, daily   (9/21/1999)

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