The investigation conducted in Laayoune by the international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirmed the death toll announced by the Moroccan authorities, HRW emergencies director Peter Boukaert said.

A video relating the crimes perpetrated by militias and individuals with criminal records against security services who peacefully intervened to break up the Gdiem Izik camp was screened on Monday in Rabat.

Morocco's Communications Minister, government spokesman, Khalid Naciri said, on Sunday in Rabat, that Morocco is entitled to question the moral conscience of the international media interested in its news.

The European Union has reaffirmed its support for a "just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution" to the Sahara issue.

Moroccan Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Fihri has said the Moroccan delegation stressed, during the third informal talks on the Sahara, which ended on Tuesday evening in the outskirts of New York, the need to give "fresh momentum to negotiations based on a new methodology to overcome the status quo.