Maghreb union impossible without Sahara dispute settlement (diplomat)

The objective of a united Maghreb is impossible without the settlement of the Sahara dispute, insisted a former Algerian diplomat.

Abdelkader Bouselham, charge d'affaires of Algeria's embassy in Washington and former ambassador to Ivory Coast, said that time has come "to say the truth and admit the existence of problems among Maghreb countries which prevent us from building the Maghreb," a North African regional grouping made up of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania.

Bouselham who was addressing a seminar on the future of the Maghreb, said that "the Sahara issue persists for 30 years now and if we cannot settle this problem, there can't be any Maghreb."

Echoing him, Mohamadou Ben Mohammaden, a history from Mauritania underlined the need to admit that "the Sahara dispute constitutes a major handicap facing the edification of the Maghreb Union."

"It is up to our politicians and to our intellectuals to be aware of the necessity to find an objective and rational solution to this (Sahara) problem," he said insisting that optimism should prevail.

The need to find a solution to this dispute, was also underlined by Moroccan Writer Moubarak Rabia who described as "artificial" this problem, calling for dialogue and frankness to overcome this issue in order to materialize the Maghreb People's aspirations.

The issue of the Sahara, known as Western Sahara, has been since 1976 at the origin of the dispute between Morocco and Algeria, a country that has been supporting the separatist movement "Polisario" claiming independence of this former Spanish colony retrieved by the kingdom under the 1975 Madrid Accord.