Several security council members reject Algeria's proposal to partition sahara, minister

Several permanent and non-permanent members of the UN Security Council reject Algeria's proposal to partition the Sahara, said Moroccan minister of employment, vocational training, social development and solidarity, Abbes El Fassi.

Abbes El Fassi who arrived in Moscow Saturday bearing a message from King Mohammed VI to President of the federation of Russia, Vladimir Poutine, made the remarks in a statement to MAP bureau here.

The royal message is dealing with the issue of Morocco's territorial integrity and with the Security Council debates on the issue scheduled for the end of next April, he said adding that several permanent and non-permanent members of the council reject the Algerian proposal to partition the Sahara. The UN Secretary General had proposed, in the report he presented last February 19 to the Security council, four options to settle the Sahara issues, including a proposal to partition the Sahara. The three other options proposed by the Secretary General are the implementation of the UN settlement plan (worked out in the early nineties), the revision of the framework agreement (brokered by his personal envoy, James baker), or the end of the mission of the MINURSO (French acronym of the UN mission for the holding of a referendum in the Sahara).

El Fassi stated further that besides the issue of Morocco's southern provinces, his talks with Russian officials will cover means of enhancing the ties of friendship binding Russia and Morocco since the kingdom's independence in the early fifties of the past century.

After Moscow, El-Fassi will fly to Sofia to convey a message from King Mohammed VI to Bulgarian Premier Simeon Saxe-Cobourg.

Bulgaria is currently holding a non-permanent member seat at the Security Council.