Morocco renews attachment to Sahara referendum

Morocco on Tuesday renewed attachment to the self-determination referendum the United Nations is trying to hold in the Moroccan southern provinces.

Morocco remains attached to the holding of a free and fair referendum, Moroccan foreign affairs and cooperation minister, Mohammed Benaissa said at a joint press conference in Madrid with Spanish peer, Josep Pique.

Benaissa recalled that Morocco was the promoter of the referendum idea.

The referendum seeks to determine whether the Sahara -a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975-sets up on its own, as claimed by the Algerian-backed Polisario, or remains part of Morocco.

The referendum process is bogging down over difficulties sown by the Polisario, which, fearing a Moroccan victory, seeks to shrink voters lists.

Benaissa recalled the latest recommendation made by the U.N Security Council to James Baker, personal envoy of the U.N Secretary-General, to work for settling the issue in consultation with the parties concerned within a "political option."

"We do not know anything about this political option and the parties concerned will hold a meeting end of September in Berlin," he said, adding "we will expound our viewpoint and listen to other viewpoints and those of James Baker. We will not accept any solution outside the legal frame."

For his part, Pique renewed Spain's backing to the U.N. settlement plan for the holding of the referendum.

Touching on the issue of Sebta and Mellilia --two Moroccan northern cities still under Spanish rule--, Benaissa underlined that the recovery of the two presidios is a Moroccan "historical right." He recalled that the question is a sovereignty issue for Morocco.