Juppe: We encourage Algeria-Morocco rapprochement
French FM says Morocco's plan for granting disputed territory of
Western Sahara autonomous status is only realistic proposal.
RABAT - Morocco's plan for granting the disputed territory of
Western Sahara autonomous status is the only realistic proposal for the
territory, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Wednesday.
"We still think that the Moroccan autonomy plan, which today is
the only realistic proposal on the table, forms the serious and credible basis
of a solution," he told Morocco's MAP news agency.
But the dispute still needed to be handled within the framework of
the United Nations talks, he said.
And it should not be allowed to hamper the ongoing rapprochement
between the leaders of Morocco and neighbour Algeria, he added, saying:
"We can only encourage them in this direction."
Juppe's comments came ahead of the start of his official visit to
Morocco on Thursday and Friday -- and soon after US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton endorsed the Moroccan plan during a visit there last month.
Clinton, speaking during a visit to Rabat on February 26, described
the autonomy plan as "serious, credible and realistic".
She also backed the UN-mediated talks on the issue.
But the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which is fighting for
independence for Western Sahara has rejected the Moroccan plan.
Morocco moved into Western Sahara when Spanish colonisers left in
1975, sparking the conflict with the Polisario Front until a ceasefire in 1991.
The United Nations is due to host another round of talks on the
Western Sahara from Sunday to Tuesday in the suburbs of New York. But the
UN-sponsored talks to resolve the dispute have made no progress over the past
two years.
Source: Middle East Online
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