Morocco is the sole north African and Mid-Eastern country for amnesty 1999 congress

Amnesty International Secretary-General, Pierre Sane, said Morocco is the only North African and Mideastern country where Amnesty can hold its 1999 congress.

"We are hopeful that the congress will provide opportunity to note on the spot the evolution of human rights in Morocco," Sane told MAP bureau here.

He added that Amnesty's presence in Morocco will contribute "to consolidating Moroccan human rights bodies and fostering dialogue with the Youssoufi government."

Amnesty International opened last June a regional office for North Africa and the Middle East in Rabat.

The office seeks to mobilize the Moroccan public opinion to assist other parts of the world through education, sensitization campaigns and backing to the action of human rights activists.

Sane also voiced hope to see the issue of missing persons settled "so that their families can be reconciled with what life has to offer them."

"There are still pending issues, but I have the impression that there exists a policy to move ahead so that Morocco becomes a genuine state of law," Amnesty International chief said.

King Hassan II announced last October Morocco's "firm determination" to close definitively the human rights dossier in six months.

"It is our determination to definitively close the human rights dossier in the six coming months," King Hassan II said in a speech at the opening of the fall session of the Moroccan parliament, MAP reported.

Morocco which has four legal human rights organizations and a Human Rights Advisory Council set up a ministry in charge of human rights issues in 1993.