The Sahara question has witnessed this year an important turning point at the level of the United Nations which has reinforced the settlement momentum created by Morocco's autonomy initiative as a serious and promising solution to bring this regional dispute to a close.

The Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) closed late in the night from Thursday to Friday the works of its second regular session of 2008, by issuing a press release that highlights the significant progress made by Morocco in the consecration of the culture of human rights and their protection.

Works of the 2nd ordinary session of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) for the year 2008, were opened Thursday in Rabat.

A Sahrawi association, on Monday, called for opening the Tindouf camps, southwestern Algeria, to NGOs and to all UN bodies, noting that it is "high time that Algeria took its responsibilities as a host country" of these camps.

The former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East, David Welch, reiterated that the initiative of autonomy in the southern provinces is the "most probable" solution for the settlement of the Sahara issue.