The European Union welcomed the strengthening of the branches of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) in the southern Moroccan cities of Laayoun and Dakhla (the so-called Western Sahara), High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherni, said on Tuesday.

The Mediterranean Committee of the Socialist International (SI) meeting Friday and Saturday in Valencia (eastern Spain), expressed support for a "just and agreed" solution to the Sahara issue within the UN framework.

Morocco’s proposal to grant autonomy to its southern provinces, the Sahara, represents a framework for reaching a political and mutually acceptable solution in line with the parameters set by the UN without amendments, Communication Minister and Spokesperson for the Government Mustapha El Khalfi said on Thursday in Rabat.

The General Union of Arab Journalists (UJA) reiterated its firm support to the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco as a solution to the artificial conflict over the Moroccan Sahara.

At the headquarters of the Wilaya of Dakhla, a memorandum was signed on Monday for the twinning of the city of Dakhla, the capital of the region of Oued Ed-Dahab-Lagouira, with the city of Honolulu, the US state of Hawaii.