Mugabe asked to mediate

2004-11-09 10:46

Harare - King Mohammed VI of Morocco has asked Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to help mediate in its long-running dispute over Western Sahara, state media said on Tuesday.

The invitation was delivered to Mugabe in Harare on Monday by Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohammed Benaissa.

"We are ready to negotiate... and I think brotherly countries in Africa can help the parties come together and find a final political, peaceful solution to this conflict," Benaissa was quoted as saying by state television.

He said while the United Nations had over the years taken steps to seek an end to the conflict, there was still room to involve African leaders to bring all the parties to the negotiating table.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara after Spain pulled out of the large, phosphate-rich desert territory in 1975, despite a World Court ruling in favour of autonomy for the territory.

Then the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, took up arms to fight for independence the following year.

United Nations efforts to resolve the situation have stalled since Morocco rejected a plan for a peace deal that the Polisario agreed to.

The question of Western Sahara has strained relations between Morocco and its neighbor Algeria.

- AFP