Kerry: US position on Western Sahara has not changed

US Secretary of State John Kerry stressed that the US position on the Western Sahara has not changed, noting that dialogue will continue to find a final settlement.

The Moroccan Royal Office said Kerry’s remarks came during a phone conversation with Moroccan King Mohammed VI yesterday which dealt mainly with the Sahara issue.

Kerry is reported to have told the Moroccan king that the US position has not changed, and falls within the framework set jointly by him and US President Barack Obama in November 2013 in Washington.

Morocco’s Minister of Communication and spokesman for the Moroccan government, Mustapha El- Khalfi, told the Anadolu Agency that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week pledged to apologise during a meeting with Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Salaheddine Mezouar, but he “did not do so yet”.

As many as 84 staff members working for the United Nations Mission in the Sahara (MINURSO) left Morocco on Sunday at the request of Morocco, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said.

The UN secretary-general visited the Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria in early March and said that he will spare no effort to help achieve progress towards a solution to the Sahara issue, describing Morocco’s presence as an “occupation”.