http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/04/200941216162672336.html
Sunday, April 12, 2009
19:35 Mecca time, 16:35 GMT
Algeria blamed for Polisario rally
Morocco's government has accused Algeria of allowing hundreds of
Polisario Front supporters to cross over the border into the country, in
violation of an 18-year ceasefire deal.
Algeria helped sneak about 1,400 Polisario Front loyalists to a military
buffer zone in the disputed Western Sahara region, where they fired shots in
the air, Morocco's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"This action, which was initiated and carried out from Algerian
territory, confirms the direct responsibility of this country in its
preparation and implementation," the ministry said.
Rabat accused Algeria and the Polisario, which is seeking independence
from Morocco for Western Sahara, of trying to disrupt moves towards a peaceful
solution to the conflict.
"This incident is [in line with] repeated attempts by Algeria and
Polisario aimed at scuttling UN efforts to relaunch the dynamic of [peace]
negotiations," the statement said.
The ministry urged action by the United Nations to "assume responsibility
and take the required actions."
Moroccan 'exaggeration'
Mansour Omar, a representative of the Polisario Front in France, told Al
Jazeera that Morocco's claims were overblown.
"A group of people of various nationalities; Sahrawis, Spanish, French
and Latin Americans, are used to demonstrating every year in front of the
[security] 'belt' set by Morocco in the Western Sahara, not in Moroccan
territories," he said.
"It was a peaceful demonstration which they stage every year. What is new
is that Morocco may have exaggerated.
"The demonstration was staged in 'the free zone of the Sahrawi Arab
republic', not in Morocco," he said.
It is the first time in years that Rabat has linked Algiers directly to
an alleged violation of the ceasefire deal between the Polisario Front and
Morocco, diplomats say.
While the Moroccan government wants Western Sahara to be an autonomous
region of Morocco, Polisario is looking to have a referendum on the territory's
independence.
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