The stories published recently by The Washington Post and The Economist Intelligence Unit on the Western Sahara conflict underline once again the relevance of the autonomy plan in a region threatened by destabilization and terrorist movements.
The widely circulated daily of the United States federal capital warn on the intent to set up “a non-viable state” in the Western Sahara, all the more so as the whole region is threatened by instability and the proliferation of terrorist and rebel groups.
The secession proclaimed recently in northern Mali where Touareg rebels, allied to Islamist groups, announced the setting up of an independent state, shows all the extent of the danger threatening the whole Sahara-Sahel region.

The Sahraoui populations, which have been sequestered for more than three decades in the Algerian desert, are looking forward to leaving the quagmire where they have been plunged by the Polisario leaders and by the Algerian regime.
This situation was acknowledged by the UN High Commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, during a visit to Madrid mid April. Guterres, who is closely following up this dossier, is well aware of the limits of patience and of the refugees’ precarious living conditions in the Tindouf camps.
Being aware of the limits of patience and of the refugees’ precarious living conditions, the UN High Commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, who is closely following up this dossier, has been keen on underlining the situation mid April in Madrid.   
It is worth recalling that the former UN secretary general’s special envoy for the Sahara, Peter Van Walsum, insisted four years ago that the independence of the Western Sahara was not, in his opinion, “a reachable goal” and that the option of a self-determination referendum, obstinately claimed by the Sahraoui separatists’ movement, was “unrealistic”.

The autonomy plan for the Sahara, under the Moroccan sovereignty, would end « by triumphing over” thanks to the leadership of Morocco. In an article published on its web site, the American publication, the Huffington Post, said to be convinced that “the autonomy plan for the Sahara would end by prevailing over thanks to the leadership of the Kingdom and this despite of the concerted manipulations of the Polisario and Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi) aiming at signing away the future of all the region”. Facing the Moroccan autonomy proposal, the Polisario entered into alliance with Aqmi causing a send of threat in all the North of Africa and the Sahel, states the Huffington Post. To take stock of the last evolution happening in the region, Elizabeth Blackney, writer of the article entitled : “from the Arab Spring to the Autumn of the Sahara”, warns against the dangerous rapprochement between the polisario Front elements and the nebulous terrorists established in the Sahel.

The Polisario leadership was awkward in holding a meeting at the French National Assembly in Paris thanks to the precious help of a communist French Member of Parliament, very loyal to the support of separatist thesis. The meeting organized on Tuesday, has turned sour when human rights defenders, journalists, associations’ members and Members of the Parliament and politicians were not allowed to get registered or enter the meeting room, some of them were even insulted and physically exposed to the violence of the Polisario watchmen. It is the case of Naima Korchi, legal expert and former executive of the HCR, who after getting registered via internet, went to the meeting, but was immediately bombarded with insults, under the scandalized watching of employees at the National French Assembly, being at the reception. Her only fault is that she was put on the files of the Polisario security services following a visit in Tindouf camps and for having, afterwards, revealed more than she should of what she has seen as human rights violations and precarious life conditions of Sahrawi populations. The event did not go unnoticed, on the contrary, it has been strongly denounced, and to the great displeasure of the Polisario, by a hundred of Parliament Members from the majority as well as the opposition.

The Moroccan proposal granting a large autonomy for the Sahara constitutes an honourable way out for all the parties concerned by the conflict, that is Morocco, Algeria and the Polisario leaders. It is the idea advanced and supported by the French Senator, François Grosdidier. The Moroccan autonomy project for the Sahara, he stated, last Friday, in Paris, offers “an honourable way out for each of the protagonists, but also an institutional organization and a model of development not yet known in the Arab-Islamic world “. Intervening in a seminar organized on the occasion of the publication of the book “Mohammed V or the popular monarchy” of the French writer Charles Saint Prot, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Late Mohamed V 1961), the UMP Senator (right wing) has recalled the historical links of allegiance making “effective” the Moroccan sovereignty on the Sahara recognized by the former French and Spanish colonial powers.

The French socialist Party follows close on the Nicolas Sarkozy UMP’s  heels to reiterate clearly, its political support to the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Western Sahara. The Socialist Party (PS) would continue supporting the Moroccan autonomy proposal for the Sahara, if ever it comes into power, has stated on Sunday, the PS First Secretary, Martine Aubry, at present in a visit to Morocco. “We have always been supporting the Moroccan autonomy initiative (NDLR in the Sahara) and will continue doing so if we come into power, has stated Martine Aubry, putting this way an end to the Polisario leaders and the Algerian press speculations declaring that the coming into power of the socialists would be in favour of their separatist thesis.