Political parties call on Algeria

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Leaders of political parties wants Morocco's neighbour to support the plan

Rabat, Apr. 12 – Leaders of some Moroccan political parties have called on eastern neighbor, Algeria to support Morocco's draft plan to grant a substantial autonomy to its Southern Provinces, the Sahara.

 

    These leaders called on Algerian officials to "back the Moroccan proposal  to put an end to the conflict and to enable us go ahead and usher a new era with Algeria," and therefore build the Arab Maghreb Union ( a regional grouping mustering Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia), which is still facing stalemate due to Algeria's support to the Polisario separatists.

    The call was issued after a meeting between Moroccan Prime Minister, Driss Jettou and party leaders to inform them about the draft autonomy plan that Morocco submitted on Wednesday to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

    A similar call was issued to Polisario leadership to "support a large-scale dialog" about Morocco's proposal.

    The autonomy project due to be discussed April 20 by the Security Council has been crafted by Morocco in bid to solve the 30-year-old dispute over the control of the Sahara. The former Spanish colony was ceded by Spain to Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accords. The Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, claims the independence of this territory.

    The political parties hailed the government’s initiative and hoped it would be adopted by the UN, as, they insisted, autonomy is the best solution to this “artificial dispute.”

    During the weekly cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, the government reaffirmed that the autonomy project is a basis for dialog and negotiations with the other parties in order to “contribute to consolidating security and stability in the region, so that its peoples can achieve the progress, development and solidarity to which they long for.”

    Government spokesman, Nabil Benabdellah said Morocco’s diplomatic action worldwide to drum up support for this “negotiable and open” autonomy plan has yielded “very positive” results.

    The project was welcomed by the U.S. as “serious and credible” and by France as “constructive”.