Liberal International Conference Hails Moroccan Autonomy Project
Participants to the 54th Conference of the World Federation of Liberal and Progressive Democratic Political Parties (Liberal International), that was held in Marrakech, hailed the Moroccan Autonomy project.
Morocco is devising the autonomy project as a solution to the Sahara conflict, triggered in 1975 by the Algeria-backed "Polisario." The separatist movement lays claims to Morocco's Southern Provinces, known as the Sahara. The former Spanish colony was retrieved by Morocco under the Madrid accord signed in 1975.
The leader of the Algerian "Union for Democracy and Liberties," Abdelkader Ouaad, described as "an important step," the Moroccan autonomy project aiming to grant enlarged autonomy to its Southern provinces.
In an interview published Monday by the Arabic-speaking newspaper "Al-Ahdath Al-Maghibiya," on the fringes of this meeting, Ouaad pointed out that "Algeria has no right to interfere in the Sahara conflict."
"Like Spain, Algeria is not an involved party in the Sahara conflict and it has to stop getting mixed up in this issue (...) that must be solved under the UN aegis,” he said.
On a related issue, Senegal expressed full support to the Moroccan autonomy project, aiming to grant enlarged autonomy to its Southern provinces.
In an interview with the French-speaking daily "Le Matin du Sahara et du Maghreb" published the same day, Senegalese Minister for International Cooperation and Spokesperson of the Senegalese presidency, Mamadou Lamine Ba noted that the referendum on self-determination in the Sahara is "outdated."
Senegal is a deeply Pan-African country, he said, adding that the Senegalese President “fosters an obsession for African unity and can never give support to the creation of new microstates in Africa.”
As to the President of the International Liberal, Lord John Alderdice, he stressed, in an interview issued by the Arabic-speaking daily "Rissalat Al-Oumma," that the autonomy project is a “positive step towards solving the Sahara conflit.”
Lord John Alderdice said that this initiative will yield positive results in the coming years,” describing the Sahara conflict as complicated and unsolvable by the use of force.
