Morocco's autonomy initiative, 'plan for a lasting piece' - US paper says
Washington - Morocco's autonomy initiative is a "plan for a lasting piece," which is supported by thinkers, diplomats and several countries, American daily "The Daily Caller" said in its Friday edition.
"The truth is this: Morocco continues to welcome Saharawis" who escaped from Tindouf and "has a plan for a lasting piece embraced by thinkers, diplomats and other nations", the article's writer Elizabeth Blackney underlined.
On the other hand, "Algeria and the polisario continue to hold thousands of people hostage in refugee camps, refusing them access to the outside world but happily putting them on display for political tourists", the US paper deplored.
Citing articles recently published on the New York Post and the Hudson Institute, by American investigative journalist and bestselling writer, Richard Miniter, the Daily Caller noted that Miniter warned that Al Qaeda recruits, by force, from the Tindouf camps (Algeria's south-west) where thousands of Saharawis are hostages.
Blackney stressed that if the polisario and Algeria "believed in freedom, they would allow a UNHCR-administered census in the camps and they would allow Saharawis to return to their homelands" in Morocco’s south.
UNGA adopts resolution reiterating UN support for negotiations on Sahara
UNGA adopts resolution reiterating UN support for negotiations on Sahara
New York (UN) - The UN General Assembly (GA) adopted, in a plenary session without vote on Friday, a resolution reiterating the UN support for the negotiating process on the Sahara.
The General Assembly called, anew, on all the parties and States of the region to cooperate more fully with the UN Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy, as well as with each other.
It said it supports the negotiating process initiated by the UN Security Council resolution 1754 (2007), which was endorsed by resolutions 1783 (2007), 1813 (2008), 1871 (2009) and 1920 (2010), with a view to achieving a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution to this conflict.
It also took note of the efforts made since 2006 and subsequent developments, in a new allusion to the momentum triggered by the Moroccan autonomy proposal for the Sahara region.
The General Assembly commended the parties' commitment to continue to show political will and work in an atmosphere propitious for dialogue in order to enter, in good faith and without preconditions, into a more intensive phase of negotiations.
It hailed the rounds of negotiations held between the parties under the auspices of the United Nations.
Informal meeting on Sahara to be held in mid-December near New York- FM says
Rabat - Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Fihri said on Friday that Morocco and the polisario will hold a fourth informal meeting on December 16-17-18 in the suburbs of New York, and another one is scheduled for early 2011.
Fassi Fihri, who presented the 2011 budget of his Department to the House of Counsellors' Committee on Foreign Affairs, borders, occupied areas and national defense, said that "there is no concrete progress in the negotiations if we exclude the agreement to hold another meeting."
The minister recalled that Morocco had participated in the third informal meeting, on November 7-8-9, 2010 in Manhasset, under the auspices of the Personal envoy of the UN Secretary General, Christopher Ross, in the presence of representatives from Algeria, Mauritania and the polisario.
He noted that this meeting took place after HM King Mohammed VI’s talks on the sidelines of his participation in the 65th session of the General Assembly, with the UN Secretary General, as well as the meeting that the Sovereign had granted last October to the personal envoy, who was on a tour to the region, the fourth of its kind to prepare the meeting in question.
He underlined that HM the King expressed Morocco’s sincere and honest commitment to cooperate with the UN to begin serious and fruitful negotiations for achieving a definitive and consensual solution to this conflict, in accordance with Security Council resolutions, which call for intense and deep negotiations between the parties that take into account the efforts made by Morocco since 2006.
Fassi Fihri added that the Moroccan delegation stressed the need to give new momentum to negotiations, noting that all parties are required to comply with the resolutions of the Security Council and not to remain prisoners of outdated plans, including the choice of an unworkable referendum.
The minister also said that the hostile plan of the enemies of the territorial integrity of the Kingdom, through its various dimensions, has witnessed a dangerous turnaround in recent weeks after the dismantling of Gdiem Izik camp and Laayoune’s events.
The enemies, he went on, have used all the vile maneuvers to spread lies and accusations against Morocco in order to divert attention away from heinous crimes committed during these events against the security forces and vandalism acts that targeted public buildings and private properties.
Fassi Fihri also reiterated the condemnation of deliberately biased readings of some foreign media, in particular the Spanish ones, of these events in order to set the Spanish and European public opinion against Morocco.
The minister said that Morocco denounces the erroneous and biased motion adopted by the Spanish House of Deputies, which seriously undermines the sovereign, historical and legitimate rights of the Kingdom and which is at odds with the supreme interests of Morocco and the provisions of the Treaty of friendship and good neighborliness signed with Spain.