No winner-no loser formula evidences late king Hassan II's wise vision, former U.N. official
Morocco, Politics, 3/17/2001

The "no winner-no-loser" formula promoted by the late King Hassan II evidenced a far-sighted spirit and a wise vision for a fair solution to the Sahara conflict, said Eric Jensen, former head of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in the Sahara (MINURSO).

The former UN official made the statement at a presentation before a forum held Thursday in New York by the Peace International Academy on the referendum in the Sahara.

The United Nations is trying to hold a referendum in the Sahara --a Moroccan southern territory that was formerly under Spanish rule and that was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords.

The vote, which would give the people of the Sahara a choice between independence or integration with Morocco, has been repeatedly delayed because of the maneuvers of the separatist polisario which seeks to shrink the voters list.

Jensen underlined that the East-West rivalry, that was behind the emergence of this problem, is bygone and a pragmatic approach is now needed to settle this issue.

In view of the complexity of the geographical and historical elements linked to this problem, the idea of the third path had appeared during the era of the ex-Secretary-General of the U.N, Perez De Cuellar and his successor, Boutros Boutros Ghali, Jensen said, conceding that for subjective considerations--a departure of the one and a non-reelection of the other-- the two officials could not materialize this idea.

The current Secretary-General also realized that the solution of the conflict lies in entente between the parties for a mutually accepted settlement, he said.

For Jensen, the recent evolution of the situation, especially the Moroccan offer to start a direct and frank dialogue as well as the adoption by the UN Security Council, upon the recommendations of the Secretary-General, of two resolutions calling the two parties "to try to agree on a mutually acceptable political settlement," show a change in the attitude of the Council and ushers in a rapid way out.

Touching on the role of the United States in seeking a settlement, Jensen said given the United States' longstanding and excellent relations with Morocco, a privileged partner in the Middle East peace process and an element of stability in the region, and given Washington's economic interests in Algeria, the United States must get further involved to find a solution to this problem.

Guest to the forum, Hamid Abdeljaber, a former spokesman for the MINURSO who closely followed the identification process of would-be voters in the referendum the UNO was projecting to hold in the Sahara, said he had been amazed from the start of the process by the lies and manipulations of the representatives of the other party. He wondered how a man can deny his spouse, a mother her child and a sheikh his brother.

According to Abdeljaber, "such a political crisis can only be settled through technical means. All those who worked in the territory as I did think that a political solution is the only way out to the conflict."

Abdeljaber, who focused his presentation on "the justice and reality dilemma," said the independence hypothesis would be confronted to the reality, as the issue is Morocco's national cause and rallies the unanimity of the whole kingdom. No Moroccan will ever accept to discuss the parceling out of the country. He argued that "a political crisis of this dimension requires a solution taking into account the norms of justice and the weight of reality."

He added that "the two parties must, sooner or later-and it would be better sooner than later-work together to reach a solution serving justice and taking into account reality."

During the debate, several participants stressed the need to explore other ways as obstacles have blocked the implementation of the UN settlement plan.

They hailed the proposal made by Morocco in this regard and noted that without Algeria's backing to the polisario, a separatist guerilla claiming sovereignty over the Moroccan Sahara, the problem would have never existed.

Previous Stories:
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