Morocco calls for face to face talks with Algeria over Sahara
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 3/14/2002

Morocco on Wednesday called for face to face talks with Algeria over the issue of the Moroccan Sahara.

The call was made by Moroccan foreign affairs and cooperation minister, Mohamed Benaissa, in statements reported by the wide-circulated daily The Financial Times (FT).

"His majesty (King Mohammed VI) has totally refused even to consider or discuss partition," Benissa told the FT.

"It is not practical or realistic and will deepen the conflicts in areas and create the most horrible precedent for the region," he insisted.

"We don't encourage the UN to leave. If the Algerians want we can reach a compromise," he said. "The issue is between Morocco and Algeria."

According to the FT, Benissa also indicated room for compromise on the autonomy plan, saying it is a framework "which means that each sector will be negotiated."

In the report he presented last February 19 to the Security council, the UN Secretary General proposed four options to settle the Sahara issues, namely the implementation of the UN settlement plan (worked out in the early nineties), the revision of the framework agreement (brokered by his personal envoy, James baker) the partitioning of the territory (at Algeria's suggestion), or the end of the mission of the MINURSO (French acronym of the UN mission for the holding of a referendum in the Sahara).

Morocco, with all its components (government, political parties, civil society activists, Sahara natives.) has flatly rejected the partition proposal.

The FT recalled that the Sahara dispute has poisoned relations between the two North African neighbors and impeded efforts at building a regional economic block. Although Algeria has always denied that it is a direct party to the dispute, it is home to the Polisario and its sequestration camps and strongly lobbies on behalf of the group.

Analysts suspect that one of Algeria's motives in proposing partition is its interest in gaining access to the Atlantic. Another, say experts, is to put pressure on Morocco to make concessions on the option of limited autonomy, the daily notes.

Previous Stories:
  Algerian minister postpones visit to Morocco   (3/11/2002)
  Algerian partition thesis is not a U.N. option, official   (3/4/2002)
  Moroccan NGOs present series of publications on human rights violation in Tindouf camps   (2/28/2002)

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