Berlin meeting did not help reach positive results, UN spokesman
Morocco, Politics, 9/30/2000

The meeting held Thursday in Berlin between the parties involved in the Sahara issue did not help reach positive results, the United Nations spokeman said on Friday.

"James Baker, personal envoy of the U.N. Secretary-General for the Sahara, will make recommendations to the S.G as to the usefulness of holding a follow-up meeting," he said.

The Berlin meeting, held under the aegis of James Baker, was attended by a Moroccan delegation, led by foreign affairs and cooperation minister Mohamed Benaissa and interior minister Ahmed El Midaoui. Algeria and Mauritania, which have an observer status in the U.N settlement plan, were also represented in the encounter

Morocco on Thursday said it was ready "to start a sincere and frank dialog with the other party."

Morocco is ready to start in the few coming weeks a sincere and frank dialogue with the other party in search for a lasting and final settlement of the Sahara issue, taking into account Morocco's territorial integrity and within the Moroccan decentralization plan, the foreign affairs and cooperation department said.

Morocco underlined during the Berlin meeting that the settlement of the issue should take into account Morocco's supreme interests, national unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty as well as the peculiarities of the region within the respect of democratic and decentralization principles that the Kingdom wants to develop and implementing starting by the Sahara region, said the release circulated by the Moroccan foreign affairs and cooperation ministry.

Morocco also proposed to hold in the few coming weeks a meeting with the concerned parties, under the aegis of James Baker.

The Berlin meeting, held at the headquarters of the German foreign affairs department, follows two rounds previously held in London.

The United Nations is trying to settle the Sahara issue via a self-determination referendum. The vote is designed to determine whether the Sahara - a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975-sets up on its own as claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario, or remains part of Morocco.

The vote was repeatedly delayed due to the Polisario's stalling tactics. Fearing a Moroccan victory, the Polisario separatists try to shrink voters lists turning down the identification of thousands of genuine Sahrawis.

Previous Stories:
  Benaissa meets German peer in Berlin   (9/29/2000)
  Morocco says it is ready for frank dialogue over sahara   (9/29/2000)
  Talks failed between Morocco and Polesario   (9/29/2000)

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