Assahra Al Maghribiya cites Polisario differences over baker's plan
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 7/28/2003

The new proposal floated by James Baker, the UN secretary general's personal envoy for the Sahara, has triggered deep differences within the leadership of the Polisario, Algeria-backed guerilla movement claiming the independence of Morocco's southern provinces, reports Moroccan "Assahra Al Maghribiya" daily.

The paper reports that opponents to the plan are led by the Polisario's representative in Madrid Brahim Ghali and Mohamed Lamine Ould Bouhali, so-called defense minister at the puppet Sahrawi republic.

Meanwhile, the paper learnt, Mohamed Abdelaziz, the Polisario leader and president of the self-proclaimed whimsical republic, has unilaterally decided to approve the plan.

According to the source, several cadres and top members of the Polisario secretariat general are rejecting the new proposal and sticking to the initial settlement plan that provides for a referendum in the Sahara.

The paper expects these divergences to have a direct impact on the separatists congress slated for next October to elect their new leadership and adopt a final stance regarding the proposed solutions and options.

Meanwhile, in the Tindouf camps, stronghold of the Polisario in southwestern Algeria, the sequestered populations are living in disarray as they are faced with people sponsored by the Algerian intelligence services. Most outstanding representatives of the local tribes are being estranged, in order to make of the upcoming congress an encounter to settle counts between the Polisario leaders, the paper comments.

As Abdelaziz's leadership has lost all credibility and legitimacy in the camps, and as its attempts to isolate Sahrawi figures are doomed to fail, and given the dissentions and divergences, "Assahra Al Maghribiya" says it is an appropriate time to unify the Sahrawi sons ranks and enforce the King's directives to activate the role of the Consultative council of Sahara affairs, create a fund to support persons who have chosen to go back to their homeland, Morocco, and secure to the Southern provinces' populations jobs and decent housing.

Previous Stories:
  Three Polisario cadres return to homeland Morocco   (7/25/2003)
  Morocco voices readiness to carry on efforts for peace in Mano River region   (7/25/2003)
  Morocco: we are always willing for normal and deep relations with Algeria   (7/18/2003)

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