The meeting with Ferrero Waldner was "very important and interesting" (Saharawi President)

The President of the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, who is undertaking a working visit to Brussels starting from Today, described his meeting with the European Commissioner for External Relations and ENP, Ms. Ferrero Waldner as "very important and interesting". "During the meeting, the first at this level between POLISARIO and the European Commission, we asked the European Union to pay more efforts to persuade Morocco to return to the negotiating table, and abandon its opposition to the appointment of the new special envoy of UN for Western Sahara", Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz said at a press conference held at International Press Centre (IPC) in Brussels. He also stressed that the meeting was "very important" because it occurred in a time of stalemate in the negotiations because of the Moroccan attitude, and because of the seriousness of the situation of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, and the recent decision by the European Union to granted an "advanced status" to Morocco. In this respect, the President of the Republic called on the European Union to put an end to the illegal exploitation of the Saharawi natural resources as long as the political issue is not resolved. "The territory of Western Sahara must have no relation with the advanced status Europe is planning to grant Morocco with", he said. The President of the Republic is accompanied by the Saharawi Minister delegated to Europe, Mohamed Sidati, the Saharawi Coordinator with the MINURSO, Mhamed Khadad and the Director of the Saharawi Centre for Strategic Studies, Baba Sayed.