By NNN-MAP
Rabat : Morocco is open to cooperation with Algeria to transcend the Sahara conflict and build the Arab Maghreb Union, said minister of State, Mohamed El Yazghi.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera TV on Friday, El Yazghi, insisted on the need to implement the Treaty of Marrakech in 1989, establishing the Union of the Arab Maghreb.
Stressing on its importance with project of the Mediterranean union called for by French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, he said:
“Morocco and Algeria are bound by destiny to build the Union of the Arab Maghreb (a regional grouping mustering Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania) with its five components so that we can defend our common rights and interests.”
El Yazghi said the Moroccan initiative to grant substantial autonomy to its Southern Provinces, the Sahara is of paramount importance because it took the issue out of the impasse declared by the United Nations.
He also expressed hope to see the negotiations leading towards a final solution.
The dispute over the former Spanish colony dates back to 1976, a year after the North African country retrieved the Sahara under the Madrid Accords. The Algerian-backed separatist movement Polisario Front claims the independence of the territory