Morocco develops Western Sahara but limbo remains

By Tom Pfeiffer

LAAYOUNE, Western Sahara (Reuters) - Confident its control over Western Sahara will one day be recognized abroad, Morocco is pouring resources into the territory to win over the indigenous population and erase opposition to its presence.

Since arriving in 1975 Morocco's government has transformed Laayoune, once a trading post of 2,000 people, into a city of over 180,000, drawing Moroccans with the offer of jobs and tax breaks so that they now outnumber the local Sahrawis.

Hundreds of villas and apartment blocks are snaking into the desert, fed by Africa's biggest water desalination plant. A new 170 million dirham ($20 million) power station of 150 megawatts will soon cut reliance on power imports from Morocco.

A small landing stage on the coast nearby has become Africa's largest sardine port. A fish market bigger than any in Morocco is rising next to a dock crowded with Moroccan trawlers. A second big port at Boujdour down the coast is due in 2008.

U.N. principles state that Western Sahara's natural wealth should not be exploited until the territory's future is decided. Morocco says that, whatever the political outcome, the region needs to be developed.

"We are in a process of economic globalization. I don't think international politics comes into it," said Mohamed Boumesmar of Laayoune's Regional Investment Centre. "When there is a project that seems profitable, we will do it."

Some Spanish firms are following their lead, like fish canning company Calvo which has a plant in the territory.

Investment officials say Spanish investors plan to build a 200-hectare tourism project with villas and hotels at Tarfaya after a new ferry service links it with the Canary Islands.