TINDOUF, Algeria -- The Polisario Front Independence Movement said it remains in a state of war in Western Sahara, dimming prospects for a solution to its 25-year territorial dispute with Morocco over the former Spanish colony.

The warning, sounded by a top Polisario official late on Monday, followed the lifting of its threat to resume all-out war in retaliation for the Paris-Dakar motor rally crossing the disputed territory at the weekend.

"The Polisario Front's decision to suspend the resumption of military activity has no time limit," said Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

"This in no way means we could not resume military action on January 10 or 15 ... We consider ourselves in a state of war," he told a news conference in Tindouf, southwestern Algeria.

Diplomats said that the apparent hardening of the Polisario line was aimed at international public opinion and that the movement was unlikely to resume the bloody guerrilla war which raged between 1976 and 1991 in the sparsely populated territory.

They doubted that Algeria, where the movement is based, would allow tension to flare up again along its closed land border with Morocco.

Ould Salek said the Polisario no longer felt tied to a UN-brokered cease-fire in effect since 1991 "since Morocco does not want a referendum".

The United Nations has been trying for nine years to hold a referendum to decide whether the Western Sahara, which became independent from Spain in 1975 and was hen annexed by Rabat, should be independent or part of Morocco.

Moves to hold the ballot have been frustrated repeatedly by disputes over who is eligible to vote, with the UN recently showing signs of frustration toward Morocco.

The Polisario accuses Morocco of trying to pack the voter list by sending at least 65,000 people to register who are not indigenous Sahrawis. Nearly 140,000 people have appealed rulings to see if they are eligible to vote. (Reuter)