U.N. commission calls for political settlement to Sahara issue
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 10/7/2002

The United Nations Fourth Commission on Friday passed without vote a draft resolution calling on parties to the Sahara issue "to continue cooperating with the (U.N.) Secretary General and his Personal Envoy with a view to finding a political settlement to the difference."

The draft resolution echoes the approach proposed by the (U.N.) Security Council for a final solution to the Sahara issue, Mohamed Bennouna, Morocco's permanent representative to the U.N., told the press after the adoption of the text.

The Commission noted the impossibility to implement the settlement plan and the self-determination referendum because of fundamental divergences between the parties, he said.

The Commission voiced backing to Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and to his Personal Envoy, James Baker, in their efforts to find a political solution, he said, adding the commission also insisted that the parties should cooperate to reach a mutually acceptable solution.

The Commission equally underlined that this negotiated solution has become indispensable to a problem that hinders economic development in the Maghreb.

The delegate renewed Morocco's will to cooperate fully with Annan and Baker to reach a fair and lasting solution to the Sahara issue.

High Commissioner, Ruud Lubbers, criticized Algeria for lack of will to handle the issue of the refugees in the Algerian camps of Tindouf. "There is no political will to settle this problem," Lubbers told a press conference.

"The international community should not continue to pay the bill eternally," he said, calling on Morocco and Algeria to work together to settle the issue.

"We have to talk of a political solution rather than of assistance," said the U.N. official said.

Commenting Lubbers' statements, Morocco's delegate to the United Nations in Geneva, Omar Hilale said Friday these statements confirm that the issue is a bilateral one: between Morocco and Algeria.

The UN official implicitly said the Sahara issue is not a question of self-determination nor of decolonization, as pretended by Algeria, but rather a bilateral issue between Morocco and Algeria, an issue whose solution goes through the two nations' political will, the Moroccan diplomat told the second TV channel 2M.

This is the first time that the HCR approves the proposals of the Moroccan delegation regarding the issue of 1260 Moroccans detained and sequestered in the Algerian camps of Tindouf, he said.

The HCR denounced the situation of these Moroccan detainees and considered it a violation to the 1951 convention related to refugees and to the international humanitarian law and other international treaties, the ambassador said.

Previous Stories:
  Path to Sahara issue settlement is clearly defined, Morocco says   (10/5/2002)
  Liberte: Algeria was behind creation of Sahara issue, Youssoufi   (9/26/2002)
  Polisario military chief rejects Algerian proposal to partition Moroccan sahara   (9/24/2002)

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