Moroccan prime minister meets African newsmen delegation

Morocco's premier received a delegation of African journalists who are visiting Morocco to glean data on the country's socioeconomic achievements and efforts to promote democracy and human rights.

The African newsmen, who met with several other Moroccan Cabinet members and Mps, were informed on Morocco's political alternation experience, latest developments of the Sahara issue, economic performance and relations with African countries.

Morocco's multi-party system, administrative warding, regionalization policy, incentives to foreign investors and efforts to combat illiteracy and poverty were also highlighted by the Moroccan officials.

The African newsmen from South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, and Liberia on Friday made a trip to Laayoune, in the Moroccan Sahara, where they visited several industrial units and socioeconomic facilities.

The delegation of reporters, which also includes representatives of the BBC, is to meet during the Sahara tour shioukhs and participants in the identification of would-be voters in the referendum the U.N is projecting to hold in the Saharan provinces.

The referendum will determine whether these provinces that were formerly under Spanish rule and that were retrieved by Morocco in 1975, under the Madrid accords, will remain integrated into Morocco or stand on their own as claimed by the Algeria-backed separatist Polisario front.

The reporters will also hold meetings with Sahrawis who defected from the Polisario's ranks and returned to Morocco.