Mauritania's military leader, colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, has called for a peaceful solution to the Sahara dispute opposing Morocco to the Algerian-backed separatist movement.
 
   "The Sahara issue is very important for the whole (North West African) region and should absolutely find a happy ending that would satisfy all the parties," said the Mauritanian leader in an interview published Monday by Moroccan daily "Le Matin du Sahara et du Maghreb." He insisted that any solution to this dispute must be necessarily peaceful."

    Morocco retrieved its Southern provinces, known as the Sahara, in 1975 when the then colonial power, Spain, left the territory under the Madrid agreements. A year later, the Polisario, backed by Algeria, laid claim to the Sahara waging a war on Morocco that lasted until 1991 when the United Nations brokered a ceasefire. 

   Ould Vall who is chairman of the Military Council for Justice and Democracy proclaimed after the August 2005 bloodless coup d’etat that ousted  the then president Mouaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Tayaa, made it clear that his country’s stance regarding the Sahara conflict is “constant”, just like in any other conflict around the world, and is “favourable to a peaceful solution through dialogue and negotiations between the concerned parties.”

   Touching on bilateral relations, the Mauritanian leader whose country has organized over the week end parliamentary and municipal elections- the first democratic polls in decades according to observers- described Morocco as a “brother and friend” country.  “Our countries enjoy excellent political relations”, he said.