Cordoba, Spain - North African countries will seek European support for attempts to relaunch talks between Morocco and the Western Saharan independence movement Polisario Front in search of a solution to their three-decade conflict, Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri said Tuesday.

Fassi-Fihri was attending a meeting of foreign ministers or representatives of Western Mediterranean countries in the southern Spanish city of Cordoba.

Morocco and Spain co-chaired the 7th meeting of the so-called 5+5 forum, which was established in 1990 to promote flexible dialogue between Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia.

The Arab Maghreb Union, which regroups the five North African nations, was seeking the support of Spain and France to relaunch talks on the Western Sahara conflict, Fassi-Fihri said.

Four rounds of UN-sponsored talks in 2007 and 2008 produced no results, but the recent appointment of Christopher Ross as the new United Nations envoy to Western Sahara has raised new hopes of a solution.

Morocco rejects Polisario's demand of a referendum on the independence of the desert territory, which Morocco annexed after the colonial power Spain pulled out in 1975.

Morocco is seeking Spanish and French support for its proposal of autonomy instead of independence for Western Sahara.

Polisario waged a guerrilla war against Morocco until the UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991.

Algeria's support for Polisario has created constant tension between Algiers and Rabat. (dpa)