UN Security Council extends UN Sahara mission
Morocco, Politics, 8/1/2002

The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday unanimously extended the term of MINURSO (French acronym for UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) through the end of January 2003.

Under resolution 1429, the council said in view of the lack of progress in settling the dispute, "the search for a political solution is critically needed."

The Security Council also renews support to efforts by secretary general, Kofi Annan, and his personal envoy, James Baker, to find a political solution to resolve the longstanding conflict, taking into account concerns expressed by both sides.

Following the council session, Morocco's delegate to the world body, Mohamed Bennouna, told reporters Morocco is ready to carry on its cooperation with the secretary general and his personal envoy in their efforts to reach a final and fair solution to the dispute over the Sahara.

After he noted that resolution 1429 calls Annan and Baker to propose a political solution before January 31, 2003, the Moroccan diplomat recalled that Baker had reached the conclusion in May 2002 that the (initial) settlement plan was inapplicable and proposed instead to seek a negotiated political solution.

That's what led Baker to submit in June 2002 a draft framework-agreement which was a sort of compromise between prerogatives of Morocco's sovereignty over the territory and delegating large prerogatives to local institutions that would be democratically elected.

However, he regretted, Algeria has turned down the project and persisted in hampering a political solution by asking, in a letter to the security council on July 22, 2002, for the adoption of a mere technical resolution that extends the MINURSO term, entailing thus an additional six-month long freezing of the settlement process.

Finally, the diplomat said, reason prevailed and the Security Council members preferred to give a clear and unlimited mandate to Baker to carry on his political mediation efforts. Morocco is ready to carry on cooperation with the UN secretary general and his personal envoy, is confident that Baker will succeed in the mission assigned to him by the Security Council and hopes that a fair and lasting solution will be negotiated on the basis of the approach he will propose, he said.

Morocco also took note of the Security Council's call to the Polisario to release without delay all those who remain in captivity.

The MINURSO was set up in 1991 to prepare for a UN-sponsored referendum in which populations of the Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accord, would say whether they want to split up from Morocco, as claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario guerilla movement, or remain part of Morocco.

Previous Stories:
  King Mohammed delivers Throne Day speech   (7/31/2002)
  UN Security Council discuss Sahara Mission   (7/30/2002)
  Sit-in of solidarity with Moroccans detained on Algerian territory   (7/30/2002)

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