Moroccan political leader: self-determination in Sahara issue is obsolete option
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 5/6/2005

Leader of the Moroccan socialist party (USFP), Mohamed El Yazghi, said the international community has grown aware that the self-determination option in the Sahara issue has become obsolete and is exploring new horizons to settle the problem.

First secretary of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces party called the Polisario, which, supported by Algeria, has been laying since 1976 claims for the separation of the Moroccan southern provinces from the rest of the Kingdom, to heed this new reality and the new discourse adopted by the international community.

El Yazghi who was interviewed by Algerian daily "Al Bilad," explained that the UN security council recommended to parties to opt for a consensus-based political solution and invited neighboring countries to work for a political settlement.

This means, he argued, that the international community wants the region to pursue a settlement, other than the automatic solutions put forward in the past.

The United Nations organization has been trying to hold a referendum to give populations of this former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1976 under the Madrid accord with Spain.

El Yazghi also argued that following the resignation of James Baker, the former UN secretary general personal envoy for the Sahara, the security council has somewhat laid the bases of a settlement after the UN chief invited it to seek a political settlement.

This is a new stage, he went on, since the international community is no longer dealing with the Sahara issue in a conventional manner but has realized that self-determination is possible in the frame of regionalization.

For El Yazghi, parties should understand the Security council's new discourse. What makes things more complicated, he analyzed, is that some parties continue to base their strategy on the past literature, which is the outdated Baker plan.

The latest resolution does not mention Baker's plan but calls parties to seek a consensus-based solution, he went on before calling Algeria and the Polisario to change their strategy after Morocco has proposed to incorporate the Sahara settlement in its regionalization policy and in the respect of its sovereignty.

Previous Stories:
  Public hearings points out 'Polisario' human rights violations   (4/28/2005)
  Closed land borders not an obstacle to trade between Morocco and Algeria, Moroccan business leader   (4/27/2005)
  Polisario separatists reject negotiations on final political solution to Sahara issue   (4/27/2005)

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