The ambassador Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN, Omar Hilale said in New York that the autonomy initiative in the Moroccan Sahara, no matter how much Algeria dislikes it, continues to garner increasing international support.

Côte d'Ivoire called, Tuesday in New York, for the resumption of the round-table process on the Sahara issue, while reaffirming its support for the autonomy plan presented by Morocco.

International experts have denounced, in New York, the proven links of the Polisario armed separatist group with terrorism and organized crime in the Sahel-Saharan region.

The autonomy plan is the "best practical solution" to put a final end to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, said in New York, British experts and lawyers before the Fourth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly.

The polisario, which has set up its bases in southern Algeria, systematically uses minors under 18 years of age as "child soldiers, whom it trains, dresses in military uniforms and equips with lethal weapons" to incorporate them into its armed militia or to use them in propaganda actions such as the so-called "Holidays in Peace" program.