Referendum cannot take place in Sahara, 'because world has changed', Canarian journalist

    "I believe that the referendum cannot take place now in the Sahara. Today there is another world", Mujica said in response to a question by a reader on the possibility of holding the referendum only in Moroccan Sahara, while there are Sahrawis in Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria and Mali.

    He underlined that "the emergence of Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb has changed the situation in the Sahara", adding that "everything has changed in Sahara since 1975, when Spain withdrew from Laayoune".

    "The main priority now is to curb terrorism", he added.

    "The case of the three Spanish humanitarians kidnapped in Mauritania does not allow another exit but a strong and coherent Maghreb where Algeria and Morocco must join efforts", said Mujica, who visited Laayoune recently and observed the peace and development enjoyed by the city, contrary to the separatists' claims.

    Two years ago, this journalist wrote an article on slavery practices exercised by the leaders of the Polisario on the populations detained in the Tindouf camps (southwest of Algeria).