UN Sahara talks stay alive
2007-06-20 11:09
United Nations - Morocco and Western
Sahara's independence movement kept negotiations alive on the
future of the resource-rich territory, agreeing on Tuesday to
meet again in August after two days of groundbreaking talks.
But statements by the two sides suggested neither had made
concessions on the key question of whether Sahara, a land of
260 000 people annexed by Morocco after Spain withdrew from its former colony in 1975, would become independent.
Senior Moroccan and Polisario Front officials held their
first meeting in seven years at a secluded private estate in
Manhasset on Long Island near New York, after the United
Nations Security Council demanded they come to the table.
"The parties have agreed that the process of negotiations
will continue in Manhasset the second week of August," said a
statement issued by Peter van Walsum, the UN special envoy
for Western Sahara who mediated the talks.
UN officials have portrayed this as the best chance so
far to end the 32-year-old conflict, now seen by Washington as
hampering its fight against terrorism.
The United Nations brokered an end to a low-level guerrilla
war in Sahara in 1991, but no political solution has followed
for the northwest African territory, which has extensive
phosphate deposits, rich fisheries and, potentially, oil.
'Historic window of opportunity'
Both sides vowed on Tuesday to work for a negotiated
settlement after talks that also included neighbouring Algeria
and Mauritania.
But there was no sign of a breakthrough on the crunch issue
of whether Sahara gains full independence, as Polisario wants,
or autonomy within Morocco, as Rabat proposes.
Morocco's chief delegate, Interior Minister Chakib
Benmoussa, told a news conference the autonomy plan was the
"only realistic solution," although it was open to
improvements. But he said Polisario had not made any
constructive proposals and still clung to outdated ideas.
"Morocco has given up total integration (of Sahara) and we
expect the other party to give up full independence," another
official, Khalihenna Ould Errachid, head of Morocco's Royal
Consultative Council for Saharan Affairs, told reporters.
Polisario delegation leader Mahfoud Ali Beiba said his
Algeria-based group "is hopeful that our Moroccan brothers face
up to history together with us by seizing on this historic
window of opportunity that has opened for us."
But he insisted Polisario's proposal for a referendum that
would include independence as an option was the way out of the
dispute. The Moroccan officials said a referendum had proved
impossible due to an inability to agree on who would vote.
"I think we are at the very beginning of a long process,"
UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters. "As you can
imagine, it's not going to be an easy process."
No country recognises Morocco's rule over Western Sahara
but the United States is now impatient for a deal it hopes will
bring more co-operation between North African states and help
combat terrorist groups in the regions bordering the Sahara.
The Western Sahara dispute is the main cause of friction
between Morocco and Algeria whose land borders, closed in 1994
amid security tensions, remain shut.
- Reuters