Morocco says Sahara issue is used to slow Moroccan development and geopolitical reasons

Morocco said it accepts no other alternative to the participation of all Sahrawis in the self-determination referendum that the United Nations plans to hold in the Sahara in December 1999.

"We won't accept any other alternative to the participation of all Sahrawis in the referendum, being convinced of the fairness of our cause, our unity and our rights," Morocco's communication minister, Mohamed Larbi Messari, told the Egyptian Akhbar Al-Yaoum daily.

A much delayed referendum in the Sahara, is currently at a standstill due to the refusal of the Polisario to allow three Sahrawis tribes from participation in the referendum, an position that Morocco opposes

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Messari recalled that Morocco requested the implementation of the self-determination principle as early as 1964, when Spain was occupying the Sahara. However, Madrid persisted in procrastinating as it was convinced that the result will be in Morocco's favor.

After Spain's withdrawal from the Sahara in 1975, the issue shifted to a "geo-political conflict" in the region. "It is our new enemies who hamper the referendum," he said.

While Morocco is granting the U.N. mission all facilities to hold the vote, the other party (Polisario) hampers the process, Messari said. "it seems that there are hidden objectives to maintain the conflict to prevent Morocco from focus on its economic development."

The Moroccan minister also touched on the situation of the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), set up in 1989 by Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. The union is now frozen, partly because of Algeria's direct involvement in the Sahara issue.

The freeze of the union is imputed to the Sahara issue, "which is founded on false calculations, taking a geo-political dimension prompted by the hidden ambitions of influence and leadership" (in North Africa), Messari said.

For Morocco, "the Arab Maghreb should imperatively be a frame for balanced and positive action for its five members (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania) without any attempts to impose leadership and domination."