Bouteflika announces summit with King Hassan II

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria announced that he will shortly meet with Morocco's King Hassan II.

The summit meeting would be held on the borders between Morocco and Algeria, Bouteflika told the Egyptian press. He added that he sees no problem in holding the meeting in Morocco.

The Algerian president said the summit meeting with King Hassan II will take place before the summit of the Arab Maghreb Union that will be held before the end of the current year.

An Algerian minister will visit Morocco in response to the visit Moroccan Interior Minister Driss Basri paid to Algeria recently, Bouteflika said, adding that joint commissions are currently discussing Moroccan-Algerian relations and the preparations for the projected bilateral summit.

To a question on the complexity of Moroccan-Algerian relations in view of the Sahara issue, President Bouteflika said, "Direct contacts are underway between the two countries." He added that he proposed to King Hassan II "to separate, at least temporarily, the Sahara issue and the Moroccan-Algerian relations."

"In case the Moroccans and the Sahrawis agree on the United Nations settlement plan and the good offices of James Baker (former US secretary of state) and of U.N Secretary-general Kofi Annan, I think that it would be possible to reach a solution to the Sahara issue."

"If the referendum is held, the problem will be settled," Bouteflika said.

The much-delayed referendum seeks to determine whether the Sahara -- a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accord -- sets up on its own, as claimed by the Polisario, or remains part of Morocco.