UN envoy in Algiers for talks on disputed Western Sahara

Algiers (AFP) - UN envoy Christopher Ross met Algeria's president at the start of a mission aimed at breaking the impasse between Morocco and Algeria-backed separatists over the future of Western Sahara.

The Polisario Front backed by Algeria has been campaigning for independence for Western Sahara since 1973 while Morocco claims sovereignty over the mineral-rich territory.

The United Nations has been trying to organise a referendum on the territory's future but the plan is fiercely resisted by Morocco, which has offered some autonomy but flatly refuses to make any more concessions.

Ross is on a 10-day mission to try to relaunch talks between Morocco and the Polisario.

On Monday he had talks in Algiers with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as well as Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, said the official APS news agency.

Ross said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had tasked him to "intensify the efforts" on finding a solution to the dispute over Western Sahara, APS reported.

He said he spoke at length with Bouteflika about his mission which "is aimed at facilitating the negotiations" between the two sides to the conflict.

Ban recently called for "true negotiations in the coming months" to settle the conflict, and Ross, according to APS, said that the UN chief would like to visit the region to help push for a solution.

The UN has been trying to broker a settlement for Western Sahara since 1991, after a ceasefire was reached to end fighting that broke out when Morocco sent troops to the former Spanish territory in 1975.