NEW YORK, UNITED NATIONS (BBC)-The special United Nations envoy for Western Sahara, James Baker, has defended his proposal that the territory (map) become an autonomous region under Moroccan rule.

He said his plan was another approach to what he described as a very difficult problem.

Mr Baker was responding to Algerian accusations that UN officials were taking sides with Morocco over Western Sahara, which Rabat annexed in 1975.

The Algerian ambassador to the UN, Abdallah Baali, said officials had twisted facts, truncated arguments and shamelessly taken sides on an extremely sensitive issue.

Mr Baker's plan reversed the UN's long-standing policy of supporting a referendum on the future of the territory. It has been rejected by the Polisario Front, which has fought for independence.