London hosts multi-partite meeting on Sahara
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 5/15/2000

A meeting between delegates from Morocco, the secessionist Polisario group, Algeria and Mauritania was held on Sunday in London at the initiative of UN secretary general's special envoy for the Sahara, James Baker.

The UN special envoy, a former US secretary of state, declined to make any comment as he emerged of the five-hour long session.

Algeria and Mauritania are enjoying an observers status in the U.N. settlement plan for the Sahara.

The Moroccan delegation was led by minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, Mohamed Benaissa, and included interior minister, Ahmed El Midaoui, Morocco's delegate to the UN Ahmed Snoussi, coordinator with the UN mission for the referendum in the Sahara, Mohamed Loulichki, the representative of the city of Laayoune and chairman of its municipal council, Khali Hana Ould Rachid, and other officials.

Following his tour in the region last month, Baker announced that he would invite the parties to a new round of talks.

The world body is trying to hold a referendum to give populations a chance to say whether they want the Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accord, to remain Moroccan territory or stand up on its own as claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario guerilla movement.

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