5 - 11 July 2001
Issue No.541
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 5 - 11 July 2001 Issue No.541 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Annan pushes Sahara autonomy
Both Morocco and the Polisario Front welcomed the United Nations resolution to discuss autonomy plans and keep open the referendum option, Rasha Saad reports
In what was described as a balancing act, the United Nations Security Council has urged Morocco and the Polisario Front to discuss a UN plan for broad autonomy for the Western Sahara, but at the same time it also decided to maintain the long-awaited prospect of a referendum.
The resolution, approved unanimously by the 15-nation council, allayed many fears of the Polisario Front, which rejected a report presented last week by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Council as an act to "legitimise (Morocco's) occupation" of the desert region.
Annan reported to the council that UN special envoy James Baker, who has been working since 1997 to break the impasse, had concluded it was doubtful that the parties would ever agree on referendum terms. The plan, which calls for five months of direct negotiations between Morocco, the Polisario Front and neighboring Algeria and Mauritania, was a last-ditch attempt to resolve the 26-year stalemate over the fate of the phosphate-rich desert territory, Annan said in the report.
Annan's report recommended putting on hold an independence referendum, and instead giving the territory substantial autonomy from Morocco. Under this plan, Western Sahara would choose its governing institutions in democratic elections, and Rabat would afterwards retain power only over its foreign relations and external defence.
But, according to diplomats, council members, including Russia, Ireland, Singapore, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mali and Bangladesh, insisted that the referendum remain an option.
Council divisions hardened after Algeria, which backs the Polisario, wrote the council this week accusing Annan of "shamelessly taking sides" in asking that the referendum be put on ice.
However, last Friday's resolution was welcomed by all parties, which described it as balancing between their interests. According to officials of the Polisario, the resolution is a victory because "it did not approve the contents of the secretary-general's draft."
"We were never against negotiation," Polisario envoy Khadad Mohamed said after the Council vote. He added, however, that the Polisario would still be pressing for a referendum rather than autonomy at the talks.
Morocco said in a statement that the resolution gave "a clear-cut mandate" to Secretary-General Annan and Baker to launch the talks on the basis of Baker's draft plan, which "does not exclude self-determination but on the contrary allows for its fulfillment."
Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975, spurring the Polisario to launch a sporadic guerrilla war against Rabat until 1991, when a cease-fire was signed under UN auspices.
The UN has been trying since 1992 to organise a referendum over Western Sahara, but the effort has bogged down amid arguments over who is eligible to vote, with the Polisario accusing Morocco of padding voter registration lists.
The resolution renewed the UN Mission for the Organisation of the Referendum in Western Sahara, better known as MINURSO, through November. By that time, Baker will report back to the council on the outcome of his mediation effort.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page