A hundred and twenty-one members of the British House of Commons have signed a motion that lends support to the Moroccan initiative to negotiate an autonomy statute in the Sahara region in a bid to solve the 32-year-old dispute over this former Spanish colony.

The 4th commission of the UN general assembly adopted on Monday a draft resolution on the Sahara issue .sending a strong signal of support to the process of direct negotiations between parties concerned .

In an speech delivered on the occasion of the opening of the Parliament, the king made it clear that "safeguarding our unanimity regarding the country's territorial integrity is the nation's most important cause," insisting that "we must carry on with our work to muster further support for our bold, credible initiative on autonomy so that the international community may reach a final solution to the artificial dispute over our Moroccan Sahara."

King Mohammed VI of Morocco on Friday urged the forthcoming government and parliament to focus their actions on three fundamental areas, namely the Sahara issue, the strengthening of the fundamentals of the state and the urgent priorities such as the continuation of reforms and preserving political and human rights achievements.

The Moroccan autonomy initiative is an answer to the Security Council appeal for a political solution, underlined on Wednesday the deputy chairman of the CORCAS Mr Khaddar EL Moussaoui.