James Baker invites the parties to meet june 28-29 in London
Morocco, Politics, 6/16/2000

James Baker, Personal envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Sahara, will summon the parties to the Sahara Issue for discussions June 28-29 in London, the U.N. spokesman announced on Thursday.

"Besides Morocco and the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania will attend the meeting as observers, as they did during the latest meeting, held last May 14," the spokesman said.

James Baker, a former U.S Secretary of State, is trying to revive a United Nations settlement Plan that seeks to settle the Sahara issue through the holding of a self-determination referendum.

The vote is designed to determine whether the Sahara -a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accords-sets up on its own, as claimed by the Polisario, or remains part of the homeland, Morocco.

The referendum process is bogging down in difficulties erected by the polisario, which fearing a Moroccan victory tries to shrink voters rolls.

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