Protraction of Sahara conflict will squander Moroccan and Algerian resources, moroccan party leader

Leader of the Unified Socialist Left (GSU) party, Mohamed Bensaid Ait Idder, warned at a rally held in Laayoune Saturday that Moroccan and Algerian resources will be squandered should the Sahara conflict endure.

Ait Idder, who holds Algeria responsible for the continuation of the conflict, said the settlement of the Sahara issue should go through negotiations between the two neighboring countries.

The leftist leader added that "Algeria which hampers any settlement to the artificial conflict should understand that its choice to undermine Morocco's territorial integrity does not serve the construction of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) and undermines Maghreban peoples' aspirations for development and progress."

"Algeria's expansionist ambitions" in the region are the reason behind the Sahara conflict that impedes the process of building the Arab Maghreb Union, Ait Idder deplored, underscoring that the promotion of UMA is an indispensable condition to achieve sustainable development in the region. He further stressed that the plan prepared by the UN Secretary General's personal envoy to the Sahara, James Baker, is a step backward.

Morocco had rebuffed Baker plan because it undermines its interests and territorial integrity.