Morocco s King stresses sovereignty over Sahara

Rabat Nov 7 (IANS) Morocco s King Mohammed VI has stressed that the "sovereignty of Morocco on the Sahara is complete and undiminished" and ruled out any solution to the issue outside the parameter.

In his address on the occasion of the 42nd anniversary of the Green March he said there can be no solution to the Sahara question "other than within the framework of Morocco s full sovereignty over its Sahara and the Autonomy Initiative which has been declared serious and credible by the international community".

He also said that "Morocco remains committed to engaging in the current dynamic wished for" by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and to collaborating with his Personal Envoy "while keeping in mind the need to adhere to the related firmly established principles and terms of reference on which the Moroccan position is based" according to a press release.

He also sent messages to the UN Secretary-General his Personal Envoy for the Sahara as well as to the Polisario and Algeria on the issue.

Ahmed Noureddine a specialist in Saharan affairs said the monarch s speech had set four parameters for the negotiations. These include that "there is no solution to the issue outside the sovereignty of Morocco on the Sahara is complete and undiminished" adding that "any solution must be under the sovereignty of Morocco whatever its name changes whether regional or advanced self or other".

On the King s assertion that the Sahara will remain Moroccan at all costs of sacrifices Noureddine explained that it is "a phrase repeated in all the King s speeches concerning the Sahara a renewal of the King s commitment to preserve the unity of the homeland and its territorial integrity and the entire Maghreb.

--IANS
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