Algeria hopes for 'legitimate' W. Sahara determination

ALGIERS (AFP) - Algeria's president told Western Sahara separatists on Tuesday he hopes they attain "legitimate" self-determination, as the movement marked its unilateral declaration of independence from Morocco.

In a message to Mohamed Abdelaziz, the leader of the Polisario movement, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika reaffirmed "Algeria's commitment to the strict observance of the principle of people's right to self-determination."

This was in line with international law and "the UN doctrine on decolonialisation," Bouteflika said, quoted by the APS news agency.

Morocco, whose annexation of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara in 1975 is not recognized internationally, has proposed broad autonomy for the territory under its sovereignty.

The Polisario Front disputes Morocco's territorial claim and unilaterally proclaimed a Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on February 26, 1976.

"Algeria will spare no effort to provide support... to the international community in its efforts to promote a solution to the question of Western Sahara, which would allow the Sahrawi brothers to exercise their right to self-determination," Bouteflika wrote in his message.

The Polisario Front wants a referendum on self-determination, a move also demanded by the United Nations.