Associated Press (AP) - According to UN Envoy Christopher Ross, negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario must tend to "a solution that includes the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination". Positive reactions in Tindouf, silence in Rabat.
Associated Press (AP) RABOUNI, Western Sahara 22. February 2009
By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU
The United Nations' new envoy to the Western Sahara on Sunday reasserted the Saharawi people's right to self-determination, a stance that could further complicate negotiations with Morocco, which refuses any such solution to the long-standing conflict. Christopher Ross said his main goal was to restart peace talks between Moroccans and the PolisarioFront to end the conflict that has dragged on since Morocco annexed the desert territory in 1975. Negotiations must tend to "a solution that includes the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, " Ross said in speech he read in Arabic to the Saharawi president-in-exile and an assembly of ministers and chiefs from the nomadic tribes that make up Western Sahara.
Talks between Morocco and the Polisario independence movement have stalled for nearly a year since Morocco backtracked on a U.N. plan for a referendum to determine Western Sahara's future. Morocco wants negotiations to focus instead on its proposal for enlarged autonomy. Ross was appointed U.N. envoy in January after his predecessor, Peter van Walsum, angered the Polisario by calling its demands for independence unrealistic.
Ross declined to comment on when negotiations might resume or whether Morocco's King Mohamed VI, whom he met earlier this week, had agreed to the idea of again discussing self-determination. He did not explicitly mention any possible timing for a referendum, but his call for "a political solution mutually acceptable to Morocco and the Polisario" was perceived by the Saharawis as strong backing.
"It's positive, Ross told me he'd work on reopening negotiations without preconditions, " said Mohamed Abdelaziz, the Saharawi president-in- exile. "He could truly contribute to solving this conflict," Abdelaziz told The Associated Press in an interview after Ross' departure for the capital of neighboring Algeria, Algiers.
Morocco said it had no immediate comment. "We will react after having closely examined the special envoy's statement," the country's information minister and government spokesman, Khalid Naciri, told The Associated Press on Sunday. Morocco wants to reopen talks with the condition that they focus only on its autonomy plan, not a referendum.
Talks have been on and off since fighting ended in 1991. The referendum plan included in the cease-fire deal never took place because the two sides cannot agree on voting lists. Morocco wants to include the 100,000 settlers it brought to Western Sahara, while the Polisario wants to count only the original residents and the 160,000 Saharawi refugees now living in camps near Algeria.
Associated Press Writer Hassan Alaoui contributed to this report in Rabat, Morocco.
Africa's last colonySince 1975, three quarters of the Western Sahara territory has been illegally occupied by Morocco. The original population lives divided between those suffering human rights abuses under the Moroccan occupation and those living in exile in Algerian refugee camps. For more than 40 years, the Saharawi await the fulfilment of their legitimate right to self-determination.
Since 1975, three quarters of the Western Sahara territory has been illegally occupied by Morocco. The original population lives divided between those suffering human rights abuses under the Moroccan occupation and those living in exile in Algerian refugee camps. For more than 40 years, the Saharawi await the fulfilment of their legitimate right to self-determination.
