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Moroccan king proposes to divide country to regions for solution of Sahara problem

08 January 2010 11:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ibad Bagirov â€“ APA. The King of Morocco Mohammad VI proposed to create new self-administration system in the country in his address to the nation and ordered to establish advisory commission for implementation of this plan, Moroccan embassy in Azerbaijan told APA.

The commission led by Moroccan ambassador to Spain Omar Aziman consists of 21 scientists, experts, political figures, as well as several law professors, including three women. The commission will prepare proposals for dividing country to 16 regions, which will have self-administration and own economic, cultural and social development programs. The commission should submit its proposals to the king until June, 2010. The King said regional dividing the country would create way out for solution of Sahara problem.

The Sahara issue appeared when Algeria appeared when Algeria opposed the process undertaken by Morocco to complete peacefully its territorial integrity. The dispute took shape in 1975 after the Algerian regime invented an entity called â€œpolisarioâ€ on its territory, held prisoners Moroccan Saharans for more than 35 years in camps of torture and humiliation and refused to free them using them for political ends. However, some of them managed to escape their detention and returned to their homeland and reunited with their families.

The reintegration of Saharan provinces into Morocco came indeed as an implementation of a policy of setting territorial disputes peacefully between Morocco and Spain.
Following the advisory opinion on Sahara issued by the International Court of Justice, on 16th October 1975, and the launching by Late King Hassan 2 of a peaceful March, on 6th November 1975, in which 350.000 Moroccan civilians participated, Morocco, Spain and Mauritania concluded the Madrid Agreement, on 14th November 1975, an agreement which permitted the retrocession of the Sahara to the Kingdom.

In spite of this situation, and in compliance with the international law and legitimacy, Morocco spared no efforts in order to settle this dispute peacefully with the concerned parties.After the negotiations reached a deadlock, Morocco proposed in 2007 an initiative in this prospect by providing the Saharan region an autonomous status. The initiative was hailed by the International Community and was considered as the unique way to get out of the stalemate.

It is within this framework that His Majesty King Mohammed VI set up the Advisory Commission for Regionalization in order to speed up the process of implementing regionalisation policy. The people in the process of implementing regionalisation policy. The people in the Saharan provinces will be given autonomy to govern themselves within the Moroccan unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity.