For Morocco, Sahara is a national cause

The Sahara is for Morocco a national cause that "will never be put between quotes," Moroccan interior minister, Ahmed El Midaoui said Friday.

"Morocco respects Algeria's standpoint to put the Sahara problem between quotes," but "for us this a national cause, that we will never put between quotes," El Midaoui said at a joint press conference with Algerian peer, Noureddine Zerhouni.

The Moroccan official visited Algeria Feb. 22-23. He conveyed a verbal message from King Mohammed VI to President Bouteflika and conferred with Zerhouni.

El Midaoui underlined "there will never be a total, frank and definitive normalization (with Algeria), as long as the Sahara issue is not settled."

"There is a territorial integrity, there is a national unity and there is a sovereignty that is being exercised," he stressed.