UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The head of the Algeria-backed Polisario Front independence movement said on Tuesday that he invited United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit disputed Western Sahara to give a boost to the peace process there.

For decades Morocco has insisted that Western Sahara – a sparsely populated tract of desert on North Africa’s Atlantic coast with phosphates and, potentially, oil and gas – should come under its rule, but Polisario contends it is a sovereign state.