Only a political settlement can solve Sahara Issue, experts
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 5/5/2004

Only a political settlement is likely to solve the thorny issue of the Sahara, stressed international experts who met Monday evening in New York to discuss this subject and Algeria's role in this dispute.

The debate was organized jointly by the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the American Moroccan Institute (AMI).

Dr. Akharali Thobhani, professor at the Metropolitan State College of Denver, Colorado, deemed as "more realistic" a political settlement of this dispute opposing Morocco to the Algerian-backed separatist movement "Polisario." The latter has been since 1976 claiming independence of the former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco under the Madrid Accords concluded a year earlier with Spain and Mauritania.

According to Dr. Thobhani, the idea of a referendum that would allow the local Sahara inhabitants to chose between separation or integration in Morocco, is now an "outdated issue" and the resumption of hostilities a "futile exercise."

He insisted that Morocco's retrieval of its Southern provinces was not motivated by the natural resources of this territory but by the reunification of the Kingdom North and South populations after their separation by the Spanish colonization.

Pr. William Zartman (Johns Hopkins University) brushed aside the comparison between the Sahara dispute and the issue of east Timor.

He also insisted on the role of Algeria in this conflict as it has been and is still providing the Polisario political, financial and military support. Pr. Zartman finds it "weird" the recent Algeria's support to an "unconceivable proposal, that of a partition of the (Sahara) territory."

He noted that under international law, "the notion of self-determination can mean lot of things and not only the referendum," insisting on the importance of a final political settlement to this dispute.

The debate was attended by UN officials and diplomats including Morocco's permanent representative to the UN, Mohamed Bennouna.

Previous Stories:
  Algeria's leader keen to improve relations with Morocco   (5/3/2004)
  Abc: Polisario started to lose support within UN   (4/30/2004)
  Morocco reaffirms readiness to negotiate autonomy status of Moroccan sahara inhabitants   (4/29/2004)

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