Memorandum sent to UN highlights Sahara issue realities to international community, political parties

Representatives of Moroccan political parties stressed that the memorandum presented by Morocco to Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, highlights realities of the issue of the Moroccan Sahara to the international community and, initially, the fact that Algeria is the party blocking any attempt to settle this artificial conflict.

The memorandum Morocco presented on September 24 to the UN Secretary General stresses that Algeria, since 1973, systematically and obstinately opposed the completion of the Kingdom's territorial integrity, adding that the involvement of Algeria in the Sahara issue had multiple forms including military engagement, failure to abide by the international humanitarian law, financial and logistic support and diplomatic mobilization.

Khalid Naciri, member of the political office of the Progress and Socialism Party (PPS), told Morocco's TV channel 2M Sunday that "the memorandum is solid. It reiterates what experts already know on the issue, without altering content, to inform the international community real facts of this question."

Larbi Messari, member of the Istiqlal Party's executive committee, said the memorandum "lifts any ambiguity while showing to the international public opinion that it is indeed Algeria that has been blocking the settlement of the Sahara issue and opposes Morocco since the very start."

"We have welcomed positively the framework agreement, but Algeria has been endeavoring to oppose it and suggested division, a thesis that is basically opposed to the principle self-determination," he said.

For Abdellah Baha, member of the secretariat-general of the Justice and Development Party (PJD), Morocco "has always taken regional concerns in consideration in government and management," out of belief that the "return to regionalization is a return to the sources." This return, he said, will be successful insofar as "Morocco is currently strong with its unity and cohesion."

Secretary-general of the National Democratic Party, Abdellah Kadiri, voiced hope to see the idea of regionalization extending in every region in Morocco, stressing that "the Sahara is a Moroccan territory. We are here and here we will remain.