Spain “fully supports” the upcoming resumption in Austria of negotiations on the Sahara issue under the auspices of the UN,   Spain’s foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos said on Saturday.

Ahmeddou Ould Souilem, a former leading founding member of the Algeria-backed separatist movement of Polisario, called on all Sahrawis, particularly those in Tindouf camps (southwestern Algeria), to embrace the Sahara autonomy plan.

The operation of family exchange visits, conducted by the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), between the camps in Tindouf in southern Algeria and southern provinces of the Kingdom, continued on Friday by organizing the 24th trip for the year 2009 from and to the province of Laayoune.

Portugal's support to the Moroccan autonomy initiative to settle, once and for all, the Sahara issue, is shared by all political parties represented in the visiting delegation of the Foreign Affairs Commission in the Portuguese parliament, President of the Commission said.

President of the Foreign Affairs Commission in the Portuguese parliament on Tuesday described Morocco's initiative to grant autonomy to its southern provinces, the Sahara, as "very important".