On eve of US envoy-sponsored Sahara talks, US officials talk of decisive stage
Morocco-West Sahara-USA, Politics, 9/28/1998

As the United Nations' special envoy for the Sahara is getting ready to hold another round of talks between Morocco and the Polisario, US officials, lawmakers and observers in the US federal capital agree that the issue is entering a decisive stage and for some, these might be "last ditch" talks.

Republican congressman and chairman of the subcommittee on Africa at the White House, Ed Royce, expressed hope that the upcoming meeting will end the deadlock in the identification process. The head of the subcommittee, which has hosted a debate on the issue, noted that the UN-referendum preparation process was supposed to last six weeks but it has been protracted for eight years.

He further insisted that the UN mission supervising preparations, MINURSO, costs $65 yearly million, and the delay in the implementation of the plan is "endangering stability in the region."

During the subcommittee hearing, the U.S. deputy under-secretary of state for the middle east, Ronald Neumann, renewed the US administration's support for the UN mission and for the new mediation efforts conducted by UN special envoy James Baker.

Neumann added that a peaceful solution to this 20-year long conflict will consolidate stability in the region and the entire Mediterranean basin and will improve political, economic and trade cooperation in the region.

Otherwise, he warned, existing problems might worsen, and the region might return to violence, endangering US interests in the region and threatening southern Europe.

Professor John Damis, head of the department of political sciences at the university of Portland, who served in 1993 and 1994 as advisor for the MINURSO identification commission, stressed the crucial importance of the Houston agreements, reached under the aegis of Baker, which have made it possible to identify 147,000 applicants and complete the registration of "non-contested" tribes.

He noted that the present deadlock is "mainly but not only" about the identification of contested tribes, which represent 62,000 to 64,000 persons. Prof. Damis recalled that Morocco insists on the right of all eligible applicants, from the territory, to take part in the referendum. He added that for Moroccans, this issue is of vital importance and that Baker is facing a double challenge: reaching a compromise that will enable the continuation of the process and that is acceptable to both parties.

Prof. Damis was testifying at the committee hearing in his capacity as an impartial witness and as an expert in international relations.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco starts preparations for new stage in referendum process   (9/25/1998)
  UN mission completes identification of potential voters in Sahara referendum   (9/4/1998)
  Security Council satisfied over progress in UN settlement plan in Sahara   (8/27/1998)

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