US Georgetown university hosts conference on Sahara

The US Georgetown University hosted Wednesday a conference on the Sahara, during which participants dealt with several aspects of the issue.

The conference revolved mainly around the origins of the conflict, the role of the United Nations, the present situation, the future prospects and the positions of the parties to the conflict and of some countries and regional groupings.

During the conference, held at the initiative of the Center of Contemporary Studies on the Arab World, Professor William Zartman, director of African studies at Johns Hopkins University, made a historical survey of the issue.

He recalled that Morocco, was under the protectorate of two colonial powers, namely Spain in the north and the south and France in the central parts. He stressed the peculiarity of Morocco's decolonization, carried out gradually after independence in 1956. Tarfaya was decolonized in 1963 and Sidi Ifni in 1969, he said, adding that this process aimed at reconstituting the Cherifian empire.

Zartman said he is for a median solution, granting a special regime to the Sahara within Morocco, like a status of "Sahrawi region of autonomous development."

The accession to the throne of King Mohammed VI and the coming to power of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algeria introduced a new element, Zartman said.

Charles Dunbar, former U.N. Representative for the Sahara, warned against the danger "to fall in a precipice" if the Sahara issue does not come out of the present deadlock. "The problem in this case is that the answers are known, but the questions were forgotten," he said, adding that the U.N., with the two parties cooperation, should reach a solution.

The problem that was posed is to know who was a genuine Sahrawi and eligible to vote: Should identification be based on the 1974 Spanish census or use other more inclusive criteria, Dunbar asked, before recalling that the two parties had agreed on five identification criteria making it possible for a large number of Sahrawis to be identified.

Postponing the vote until 2002 is the longest suspension of the referendum process, he said, adding that the U.N., which can envision a third solution, should carry on its mission in the Sahara. He recommended the two parties to ponder a settlement to the conflict.

Former US Ambassador Richard Parker, who served in Morocco and Algeria, recalled the statements made by the ex-president of Algeria, Houari Boumediene, on the eve of the decolonization of the territory. Boumediene had blessed any agreement between Morocco and Algeria regarding the issue, said Parker, a member of the Middle East Institute, a diplomatic research and studies center based in Washington.

For his part, Javier Carbajosa, advisor at the Spanish embassy in Washington, said Spain will continue backing the U.N. settlement plan for the Sahara, because the issue is part of the concerns of the Spanish public opinion.

Carbajosa, who was giving the European standpoint on the issue, said time has come for the region to embark on integration.

A Moroccan participant, Abdeslam Maghraoui, said that Morocco's decolonization was gradual. He stated that Morocco's claims over the territory are explained by the legal bonds of allegiance that were recognized by the Hague-based International Court of Justice in its opinion of October 16, 1975.

Maghraoui, professor of political science at Georgetown University, enumerated historical facts and international documents attesting that the Sahara is a Moroccan territory. He rejected the thesis that the Sahara had a different status from those of the former Spanish colonies in North Africa. He recalled that the Sahara was part of the Spanish colonial authority based in Tetouan (northern Morocco) and that it was separated only when phosphate was discovered in the territory.