By Stephen Brown ROME, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Western Sahara's independence movement, the Polisario Front, said on Friday it was committed to peace talks despite disappointment at Morocco's refusal to consider a referendum and its reticence about fresh talks. The dispute over the resource-rich former Spanish colony, which was annexed by Morocco in 1975, has been the subject of two rounds of U.N.-mediated talks since April, when Morocco and the Polisario submitted rival plans. Western Sahara, on the coast of northwest Africa, is home to some 260,000 people and has lucrative phosphate deposits, rich fishing grounds and, potentially, oil. A third round of talks is expected before year-end but Polisario Secretary General Mohamed Abdelaziz said in Rome that Morocco had not responded to a U.N. proposal to hold them in November, an invitation that Polisario has accepted. "Unfortunately Morocco has not yet replied, it has not yet accepted," Abdelaziz told foreign reporters during his visit, in which he held meetings with Italian and European politicians. "But we will continue to place our trust in the process as long as there is a chance that it can produce a result." No country recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, but the U.N. Security Council is divided. Some nonaligned states back Polisario while France and the United States back Morocco. The peace process centres on whether, as Rabat proposes, it should be an autonomous part of Morocco, or, as Algerian-backed Polisario wants, its fate should be determined by a referendum with the option of independence. Tension remains high along a 1,500-km (940-mile) wall of sand which runs through landmine-infested desert to the Atlantic coast, separating Moroccan and Polisario forces. The dispute is also the main cause of tension between Morocco and Algeria. Rabat has shown little enthusiasm for the U.N. proposal. "We told the Italians of our grave worry about the Moroccan position which puts at risk this chance for peace, above all their intransigence and refusal to accept the principle of self determination and a referendum to let the Sahrawi people determine their own fate," said the Polisario leader. Abdelaziz, head of the self-proclaimed government in exile, met Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema and politicians to urge them to lobby Morocco to stop blocking visits to the disputed territory by European observers, and to increase aid.
