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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons A 'third way' for the Sahara?
By Dalal Abu GhazalehFollowing another round of failed UN-sponsored talks between Morocco and the Polisario Front on the future of the Western Sahara, it seems unlikely that a referendum on the status of the territory will be held any time soon.
Unsuccessful talks held in London on 14 May reminded observers of the dispute over the Western Sahara that deadline after deadline has been missed since 1991, when the UN brokered a cease-fire that ended 15-years of guerrilla warfare in the former Spanish colony.
Sahrawis, the people living in the Western Sahara, were to vote in a referendum to decide whether the desert territory should be incorporated into Morocco, which controls most of the territory, or become independent as called for by the Polisario. This referendum was to follow shortly after the cease-fire. But both sides clashed over who should be allowed to vote in the referendum, with the Polisario accusing Rabat of trying to register Moroccans as Sahrawis to ensure the results in its favour.
These long-standing differences have led to increasing calls for a so-called "third solution" -- some form of self-rule in the phosphate-rich, sparsely populated territory.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on both sides to come up with a "specific solution to the multiple problems relating to the implementation of the plan or, alternatively, be prepared to consider other ways of achieving an early, durable and agreed resolution of their dispute at the proposed meeting," referring to another round of talks that might be held some time this month. In a written report to the Security Council, he said that talks held on 14 May in London under the auspices of his special envoy, former US Secretary of State James Baker, only reinforced the UN assessment of the gulf between the two sides.
But apparently both sides dismiss the possibility of a "third solution." Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, the head of the Polisario Front, said after the London meeting, "There is no other alternative to the independence of the [Western] Saharan people -- through the UN settlement plan, negotiations, armed struggle, or all of them at the same time. There are only two alternatives."
Last week, the Security Council extended the mission for the peace-keeping forces deployed in the Western Sahara for only two months. UN forces have been in the area for more than eight years -- the period during which it has tried to organise a referendum.
"Ever since Indonesia lost East Timor in a referendum, Morocco has grown increasingly jittery about its own in the south," a Western diplomat who requested anonymity told Al-Ahram Weekly.
King Mohamed VI, who succeeded his father last July, has tried to improve Rabat's image in the eyes of the Sahrawis. He sent top government officials on several tours of the territory to listen to the demands of the Sahrawis, promised an elected council to run their affairs, allowed them to use mobile phones and has eased curbs on freedom of speech. Other measures such as sacking the hated interior minister, Driss Basri, who had dealt with the territory ruthlessly, and easing restrictions on freedom of speech in Morocco have also probably been appreciated by Sahrawis.
"The palace hopes that the longer the referendum is postponed, the more the Sahrawis will learn to like the king and thus may refuse to join their weary fellow tribesmen in exile, the Polisario Front and its increasingly reluctant backers in the Algerian army," the diplomat said.
He added that a "third solution" is highly unlikely "not only because both sides will never agree to it, but also because the international community in general and the US and France in particular do not want to open up Pandora's box of minorities in the region. Neither of these countries wants to upset Morocco which prefers the status quo."
The Polisario Front had repeatedly expressed its concern about pressure by the United States and France on the UN Security Council to prevent a vote on holding a referendum in the near future.
Algerian radio reported last week that Abdel-Aziz expressed his rejection of this pressure in a letter sent to Annan. "Even if the attempts by France and the USA have failed this time, however, these confirm a new tendency which emerged recently and which aims at abandoning the settlement plan which is currently in an advanced phase of implementation by the MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the organisation of the referendum in Western Sahara)."
Polisario spokesman Mohamed Salem Ould Sadik said last week, "It is France's responsibility to help break the deadlock over the holding of the referendum."
