Morocco denounces NGO's allegations on Sahara

Morocco denounced as "baseless" the allegations of a non-governmental organization (NGO) on the Sahara issue.

Morocco's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Nacer Benjelloun-Touimi, told Tuesday the 50th session of the U.N. Human Rights sub-commission that the NGO, "Centre Europe-Tiers Monde" (CETIM) spoke of the Sahara issue, while it totally ignores the various technical aspects of the issue.

The NGO earlier made before the sub-commission a speech full of allegations against Morocco.

The Ambassador added that the NGO reads the report of the U.N. Secretary-General without understanding the problems and without making the necessary differences.

The United Nations is trying to settle the Sahara issue through the holding of a self-determination referendum. The vote is designed to determine whether the Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975, sets up on its own as claimed by the Polisario, or be definitively incorporated into Morocco.