The Moroccan initiative autonomy for the Sahara is a democratic option for progress towards a final  settlement of the artificial conflict created around the territorial integrity of Morocco, said Tuesday Pr Abdelhamid El Ouali.

The ambassador of the United States in Algiers, Robert S. Ford, reiterated, Monday, his country's position in favour of Morocco's autonomy proposal for the Sahara, stressing that "self-determination does not necessarily mean independence."

Morocco's ambassador to the European Communities, Menouar Alem, on Friday, drew the attention of the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) on the use and the real destination of the Community aid destined to the Sahrawi population held against its will in Tindouf, Southwest Algeria.

United States President, Georges W. Bush, has confirmed that Morocco's initiative to grant substantial autonomy to its Southern Provinces -the Sahara- under the kingdom's sovereignty, is the only solution to the 32-year old dispute over the former Spanish colony, and insisted that an independent State, as claimed by the Algerian-backed separatist movement "Polisario", is not a realistic option.

The director of the french Observatory of Geopolitical Studies (OEG), Mr. Charles Saint-Prot, said that the Algerian theories concerning the Sahara "are no longer topical" and that "Algiers obstinacy puts the region in danger."