 Hamid Chabar, the Moroccan representative of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara quoted that "There are a lot of young people in the Sahel who are leaning towards radical Islam, with groups such as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat gaining ground".The claims were denied by Polasario which stated that it never supported terrorism.The autonomy proposal was rejected by the front in February 2004 soon it was proposed, while Morocco sought the backing of the United States to take it forward.