UN LACKS SPINE

The UN is close to giving up on the conflict in the Western Sahara after Morocco once again rejected a peace plan. Following a plea by Kofi Annan, the UN Security council agreed to wait ten months before withdrawing from the area entirely. "I hope that during this period the parties will reflect on the very long time that has elapsed since the beginning of this conflict ... and on the impossibility of resolving it unless both of them are willing to take actions that provide each with some, but perhaps not all, of what it wants," Annan said in a report to the Security Council. Annan said the Security Council had to choose whether to terminate the peacekeeping force known as Minurso and return the issue to the General Assembly, "thereby recognizing and acknowledging that, after the passage of more than 13 years and the expenditure of more than $600m, the United Nations was not going to solve the problem…Option two would be to try once again to get the parties to work towards acceptance and implementation of the peace plan," he said.

In his report Annan says, "It is my view and that of my Personal Envoy that the (Baker) Peace Plan still constitutes the best political solution to the conflict over Western Sahara which provides for self-determination."

Since July of last year, the Polisario has agreed to the UN's controversial "Peace Plan for Self-Determination of the People of Western Sahara," popularly known as the "Baker Plan" after the UN's chief Sahara negotiator, James Baker III. The Polisario agreed to the plan even though it would allow many new Moroccan settlers in the territory to vote in the referendum over Western Sahara's independence and as it would make the territory a Moroccan province before a possible independence. On 15 April this year, the Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa however "delivered its final response to the Peace Plan," according to Annan, again rejecting it. Morocco demands the territory only get "autonomy within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty…It is ... out of the question for Morocco to engage in negotiations with anyone over its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Moroccan Minister Benaissa said in his letter to Annan, adding that he wanted to "close the issue of self-determination."

The Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, waged a guerrilla war with Morocco from 1976 to 1991 in hopes of regaining independence for the territory. Since 1991, a UN peacekeeping mission has pressed for a referendum on independence, but has been plagued by delays. About 200 000 local Saharawi people have been forced into exile and still live in refugee camps in Algeria.

M'Hamed Khadad, Member of the Polisario Front's political leadership, Coordinator with the Minurso, deplored the United Nations' lack of firmness in the face of the intransigence of Morocco and called for a return to the original Peace Plan of 1991 which has already been accepted by all involved. “We mostly deplore the lack of firmness from the United Nations in the face of Moroccan intransigence and violations of law and of the international legality, though the Moroccan response was completely ignored,” he said. “The UN should explain to Morocco that its position of permanent obstruction is intolerable and can not remain unsanctioned”, he said. adding that any new mandate of Minurso should be used by the Security Council to “bring Morocco to the path of reason and cooperate with the UN towards the organization of a free and fair referendum of self-determination for the Saharawi people.” Sources: Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, AFP, UN Center News, News 24 (South Africa), Afrol

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