UN General Assembly
1971

70. As for the Sahara under Spanish administration, I should like to recall that the General Assembly has repeatedly reaffirmed that the populations must be consulted by referendum as soon as possible so that they may freely decide their future. The Government of His Majesty the King considers that to be the most appropriate way of speeding up the decolonization of the region and thereby enabling the local populations, and the Governments concerned, including the Spanish Government, at last to go beyond a largely outmoded phase of their common history. We believe this anachronism must be eliminated as soon as possible so as to open wider still the road to more intelligent and more extensive co-operation with Spain, a country with which Morocco already has many common traditions and interests.