RABAT: Foreign Minister of Morocco has demanded that any settlement on disputed Western Sahara must be exclusively based on its aspirations, Arab media reported on Friday.
Nasser Bourita during a meeting with United Nations envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura said that Rabat would only agree to a settlement acknowledging autonomy within Morocco.
UN envoy has traveled to Morocco on his first visit to the country after assuming charge. During the visit he met with elected officials, dignitaries and tribal chiefs.
He held meetings with independence activists as well as supporters of union with Morocco in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla.
US recognized Morocco’s annexation of the territory, approved by former President Donald Trump administration for normalizing ties with Israel.
Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita stressed that the only deal Rabat would accept for the contested area was autonomy within Morocco, not the independence of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front.
Since 1991 a UN mission has been deployed in Western Sahara with an aim to organize a referendum on the territory’s future after cease-fire agreement was reached between Morocco and the Polisario in the same year.
However, the referendum has never held with Polisario announced it was resuming fighting in 2020.
Morocco controls around 80 percent of Western Sahara, while the Polisario has control over desert interior.
