UN CHIEF DISCUSSES WESTERN SAHARA WITH MOROCCAN KING

UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres held a rare meeting with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Wednesday, where the pair discussed the disputed Western Sahara region.

The low-intensity conflict in Western Sahara has pitted Morocco against the Sahrawi independence fighters of the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, for more than 40 years.

Morocco de facto controls 80 per cent of the vast desert region, rich in phosphates and with a long Atlantic coast abutting rich fishing waters.

King Mohammed on Wednesday reaffirmed Morocco’s position that the regional dispute should be settled “within the framework of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the kingdom”, according to a royal statement.