A new family visit exchange, organized under the auspices of the United Nations, took place on Wednesday between the southern provinces and Tindouf camps, said a statement from the Office of Moroccan Coordination with MINURSO.

Mohand Laenser, interior minister, said on Monday in response to an oral question at the House of Representatives, that the processing of files belonging to those who joined the motherland from the Tindouf camps are on track to be settled.

France reiterated Wednesday its support to the Moroccan autonomy plan, the "serious and credible basis" for a negotiated solution to the Sahara issue, during a visit to Paris of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross.

The UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for the Sahara, Christopher Ross, has warned that the status quo in the Sahara conflict "is now threatened by the rise of extremist, terrorist, and criminal elements in the Sahel region."

Settling the Sahara issue will help to establish better stability in the African Sahel, said MEP Gilles Pargneaux, underlining the need to find a political solution to this dispute under the United Nations.