UN chief report on Sahara confirms persisting difficulties to settle the dispute, Minister

The latest report of United nations' Secretary General Kofi Annan on the Sahara confirms the persistence of difficulties facing the search for a solution to the three-decade long dispute opposing Morocco to the Algeria-backed separatist movement "Polisario," said, in Rabat Wednesday, the Moroccan Minister of communication and Government spokesman.

Nabil Abdallah who was speaking at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Driss Jettou, reiterated Morocco's willingness to reach " in a regional framework, a solution that cares for the national sovereignty" of Morocco over the former Spanish colony that was retrieved by the kingdom in 1975 under the Madrid Accords concluded with Spain and Mauritania.

The Polisario separatists have been since 1976 claiming the separation of Morocco's Southern Provinces, know as the Sahara, from the rest of the country.

He said Morocco's position is based on the need to reach a definite and comprehensive solution to this dispute.

"We shall continue to defend this position" based on the search for a "political, definite and comprehensive solution that respects the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the kingdom," he insisted.