The UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, received on Friday, at the UN headquarters in New York, a Moroccan delegation composed of MM. Taieb Fassi Fihri, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and Mohamed Yassine Mansouri, Executive Officer of Studies and Documentation, accompanied by the permanent representative Ambassador of the Kingdom at the UN, M. El Mostafa Sahel.

The Moroccan autonomy initiative in the Sahara, as part of the national sovereignty of the Kingdom, offers « a political prospect and a logical solution” to an old conflict of more than 30 years, writes the Jordanian daily “Al Ra'i” 

The Republic of Cape Verde considers the Moroccan initiative aiming at granting broad autonomy for the Sahara region as the basis of negotiations for a final settlement of this conflict having lasted too long, reiterating its belief in the virtue of dialogue and consultation as means of conflicts settlement.

The United Nations affirmed Friday that Mr. Peter Van Walsum is still the UN mediator concerning the Sahara issue and that “his status has not changed”.

The family visits exchange operation, led by the High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR), among Tindouf camps, in Southern Algeria and the Southern provinces of the Kingdom, was followed, Friday, by the organization of the 23rd trip during 2008, from and towards Oued Eddahab and Aousserd provinces.