Morocco, Algeria must embark on direct negotiations over Sahara dispute, Minister

The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation has wished to see Rabat and Algiers embark on "direct negotiations" to find a political settlement to the Western Sahara dispute, following the re-election of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Mohamed Benaissa who was receiving, in Rabat Monday, a German delegation of MPs, described this dispute as "artificial" and reiterated Morocco's position in favor of a "political, negotiated and consensual solution between the parties," in an allusion to the Algerian-backed separatist movement "Polisario" claiming independence of the Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accords signed with Spain and Mauritania.

Algerian authorities which have been providing the Polisario with moral, financial and military support, always denied being involved in this almost three decade conflict.

He told the delegation leader, Gunter Gloser, that Morocco has "recently opted in Berlin with the UN Secretary General's personal envoy to the Sahara (James Baker), for a regional status of autonomy (to the local populations) as part of the sovereignty and territorial unity of Morocco."

On his part, Gunter Gloser who is chairman of the European Affairs Commission of the Bundestag (Parliament), said his country favored a settlement of this dispute under the UN supervision. He also called for the release by the Polisario of all remaining Moroccan prisoners of War, estimated at more than 600.