Belgium hopes to see Sahara issue swiftly resolved

Belgian ambassador to Rabat, Cristina Funes Noppen, voiced on the fringes of a meeting held Monday with representatives of the civil society in Laayoun her country's hopes that the Sahara issue will be swiftly resolved.

Noppen, who started a visit to Laayoune last Friday, added that her country has always supported humanitarian solutions likely to pave the way for negotiated political settlements, hoping that such will be the case for the Sahara issue.

During the meetings, the civil society representatives expressed southern populations' attachment to national unity, and constant mobilization behind king Mohammed VI in the defense of Morocco's sovereignty.

They unanimously called for prosecuting the leaders of the Algeria-backed Polisario separatist movement that is claiming the independence of western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 after a three-party agreement signed between Morocco, Mauritania and Spain.

They said the Polisario leaders must be sued for the barbarous acts, and human rights violations perpetrated against the populations sequestered in Tindouf, southwestern Algeria.