Britain backs settlement of Sahara issue within Moroccan kingty

Britain will continue to back the efforts made to settle the Sahara issue, part of the Moroccan sovereignty, British ambassador to Morocco, Antony Layden said Saturday.

Britain will continue to back the efforts made by the United Nations Secretary-General and his personal envoy, James Baker, to find a political solution to the Sahara issue within Moroccan sovereignty," Layden told the Moroccan Le Matin Du Sahara et du Maghreb daily.

The British diplomat underlined that Algeria should know that "there is today a genuine opportunity to settle this problem, an opportunity that will be difficult to find in the future." This opportunity should, thus, be seized positively to shelve this problem once and for all, he said.

Morocco had proposed to start a direct and frank dialogue with the other party (Polisario guerilla, backed by Algeria) with a view to settling the Sahara issue part of Morocco's sovereignty.

The British diplomat said "I am convinced that there is a solution to which all parties can adhere and that will be implemented within an enlarged autonomy under the Moroccan sovereignty."

"It is Morocco that is up to determine means to grant an enlarged autonomy to its territories," he stressed.

Layden also made a "personal call on Algeria and the Polisario to set free the refugees of Tindouf (south-western Algeria, where the Polisario separatists are based) and let them return in peace and security to their country (Morocco)."

The ambassador underlined that according to a report submitted to him by his second secretary for defense at the end of a visit to Tindouf, "there is a large part of this population who prefer to return to Morocco."

Touching on the fate of Moroccan servicemen reported detained in Tindouf, Layden said "it is really essential that they should be released." "This is a basically humanitarian issue that has nothing to do with the negotiations and the decisions to take regarding the Sahara dossier," he said.