Baker Sahara plan holds great dangers for Maghreb, Algerian labor party warns

Algerian Labor Party (PT) warned against the new plan made by United Nations Secretary General personal envoy, James Baker, deploring that it is "an American plan that holds a danger for the Maghreb region."

The Baker Plan may "create large tensions and we warn against this plan because it is an American plan that aims to enhance regionalism in countries of the region, by starting with the western Sahara, Rif and then Kabylie," the party's spokeswoman, Louiza Hanoune, told a press conference in Algiers.

Hanoune, whose statements were reported by the Algerian press, said "those who are happy with this plan must know that the plight of Moroccans does not necessarily mean the content of Algerians."

She added that it is important to take into consideration Morocco's call for dialogue with Algeria over this question, highlighting the neighboring countries' joint history and pleading for the unity of the two peoples.

She said Baker's plan is part of an American logic to lay hand on the resources of wealthy countries. "The Setting up of an American base in southern Algeria will be a great danger and can only be motivated by the appropriation of oil resources," she noted.

"Assabah," a Moroccan independent daily, reported that the Algerian Labor Party (PT) opposes to the logic advocated by Algiers as regards Morocco's territorial integrity, underscoring that it is a "fair voice that has risen in Algeria."