Secretary Clinton Reaffirms US Policy on Western Sahara in Support of Moroccan Autonomy Solution

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaking in Marrakech Monday at a press conference with Moroccan Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Fihri, following a meeting with King Mohammed VI, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirmed the current US policy on resolving the Western Sahara conflict -- that autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only realistic solution for ending the more than 30-year dispute. "It is important for me to reaffirm, here in Morocco, that there has been no change in our policy," said Clinton responding to a question as to whether the Obama Administration stands by the US position supporting Morocco's autonomy plan in the Sahara.

"It is a plan, as you know, that was started under the Clinton Administration. It was reaffirmed under the Bush Administration and remains the policy of the United States under the Obama Administration," Secretary Clinton said in an interview with the Maghreb Arab Press on Tuesday. "In view of our long-standing relationship, we are very aware that the circumstances are difficult. I do not want there to be any doubt, in the region or elsewhere, regarding our policy, which remains unchanged."

Foreign Minister Fassi Fihri thanked Clinton and noted that "our [Morocco-US] relations have continued to grow... today we stand ready to give it further impetus so as to deepen and strengthen our partnership and to give a new dimension to our strategic political dialogue between Rabat and Washington."

"We are very pleased to see Secretary Clinton's remarks reaffirming for the first time in public on behalf of the Obama Administration what has been a consistent and constructive US policy to resolve the Western Sahara dispute," said Robert Holley, Executive Director, Moroccan American Center for Policy. "That policy also enjoys continued bi-partisan majority support in the US Congress." Holley continued, "A broad internationally acceptable autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only realistic solution for ending the Western Sahara conflict."

Clinton was in Marrakesh for the sixth ministerial meeting of the Forum for the Future, a developing/industrialized nations' initiative to advance regional security, economic development, religious tolerance, and social reforms.

The UN Secretary General's Personal Envoy for the Western Sahara, US Ambassador Christopher Ross is currently working on a possible fifth round of negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front, with the participation of neighboring countries Algeria and Mauritania in an ongoing effort to end the conflict.

The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and interested publics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. For more, please visit www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org

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