US calls for 'dialog' and 'cooperation' to solve Sahara dispute
The United States encourages Morocco and Algeria to use "dialog" and "cooperation" to solve the Sahara (Moroccan southern provinces) dispute, said here Tuesday, Elizabeth Cheney, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.
She urged, in a meeting with Arab journalists in Washington, Moroccans and Algerians, who are at loggerheads about the Moroccan Sahara issue, to work together on these issues and "we will continue to encourage bilateral dialog and cooperation to help solve all (related) issues."
Cheney, also coordinator of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), said the activities of certain Algerian groups is linked chiefly to the Sahara issue.
Gen. Thomas Csrnko, Special forces commander of for US-European Command, has recently told the Associated Press "Al-Qaida-linked Algerian insurgents are becoming more active in Africa's remote, ungoverned deserts," adding the No. 1 threat to the region is Algeria's Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an al-Qaida affiliated movement.
Cheney also said Morocco "is a leader country" in the MENA region in terms of reforms, recalling the changes Morocco has introduced in the fields of human and women rights.
She said the US is exploring means to back women in Morocco and help them share their expertise with other neighboring countries.
During a visit she paid mid-April to Morocco, Cheney had particularly lauded the adoption of the new Family Code, which gives equal rights and duties to husbands and wives under the marriage bond.
