Extension of MINURSO mandate will help Baker continue contacts, France says
Morocco, Politics, 5/1/2001

The extension by the United Nations Security Council of the mandate of the MINURSO (UN mission for the referendum in the Sahara) will help James Baker, special envoy of the UN secretary general for the Sahara, to continue his contacts, the French foreign department said on Monday.

"The extension, recommended by the Secretary-General in his latest report, will help Baker to continue his contacts with the parties," said the spokesman of the Quai D'orsay, Francois Rivasseau.

"We hope these contacts will help achieve a progress in the quest for a lasting solution, acceptable to all the parties and in agreement with the principles of the United Nations," the spokesman said.

The United Nations Security Council last week extended the MINURSO mandate for two other months until next June 30.

The Council expressed hope that the parties, working under the auspices of the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy, James Baker III, would "continue to try to resolve the multiple problems relating to the implementation of the Settlement Plan and to try to agree upon a mutually acceptable political solution" to their dispute over the Sahara.

The new extension came upon the recommendation of the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan in a report to the Council.

The UN has been trying since the early nineties to implement a settlement plan in the Sahara-- a Moroccan southern territory, formerly under Spanish rule and retrieved by Morocco in 1975 but whose sovereignty is claimed by a separatist movement, the Polisario.

The plan, providing for the holding of a referendum to enable the population of the territory to choose between independence or integration with Morocco, has been hampered by the other party which seeks to shrink the voters' rolls.

The 264-strong MINURSO, which was first deployed in 1991, includes military observers, troops and civilian police.

Previous Stories:
  UN Security Council extends MINURSO mandate   (4/28/2001)
  Annan recommends two-month extension of MINURSO   (4/25/2001)
  Thami Khyari re-elected national secretary of Democratic Forces Front   (4/24/2001)

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