Morocco renews to UN rejection of sahara partitioning idea, commitment to negotiate
Morocco, Politics, 2/26/2002

Morocco has renewed in a letter to the U.N. security council categorical rejection of any proposal meant to harm its territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces and renewed commitment to negotiate a fair and lasting solution on the basis of the draft framework-agreement.

The letter officially explains Moroccan stance on the latest report of the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, on the Sahara, in which he outlines four options: resume attempts to implement the settlement plan, revise the draft framework agreement, hold discussions over a possible division of the territory, or terminate the UN mission in the Sahara.

Morocco's permanent delegate to the UN, Mohamed Bennouna urges the security council to separate between humanitarian aspects of the issue and political settlement and to require the immediate release of all Moroccans detained on Algerian soil.

The text notes that it was during a visit in November 2001 to Houston (Texas) by Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, that the UN personal envoy, James Baker, reached the conclusion that Algeria and the Polisario (separatist movement) rejected the framework-agreement and are ready to examine or negotiate a partition of the territory as a political solution to the dispute over the Sahara. The letter goes on that Morocco, immediately after it was notified of the proposal, rejected it and renewed that the Moroccan government sees that this option contradicts the basic principles of the United Nations charter and mainly the self determination principle that Algeria pretended it was defending to justify its interest in the issue.

For Morocco, the letter insists, this option clearly bears seeds of instability and tension for all the region and therefore, the United Nations Organization should not endorse a political maneuver meant to appropriate, in an arbitrary manner, territories and populations.

The Kingdom of Morocco renews its commitment to negotiate a fair and lasting solution on the basis of the framework-agreement proposed by Baker and accepted by the Security Council in its resolution 1359 adopted on June 29, 2001, the letter goes on.

Regarding the implementation of the settlement plan, the Kingdom of Morocco takes note of the secretary general's appraisal that it will be facing in the years to come most of problems and obstacles it confronted in the last ten years and leaves to the Security Council the task of drawing the conclusions it would deem appropriate.

The letter also urges the security council to clearly separate between the humanitarian aspects of the political settlement and requires that those who still detain 1,362 Moroccans for more than 20 years on Algerian territory release them immediately as the secretary general mentions in his report.

Morocco requests that the letter be published as an official document of the Security Council.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco calls Spain to clarify its position regarding Morocco   (2/25/2002)
  Socialist party expresses total refusal of sahara partitioning proposal   (2/25/2002)
  Morocco ready for dialogue with Algeria over Sahara issue   (2/25/2002)

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