Senegal protests against Algerian tendentious draft recommendation on sahara

Senegal protested to the secretary general of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) against a disproportional, unbalanced and tendentious draft recommendation on Sahara that Algeria and its ally, the Polisario, tried to have it passed by the pan-African Organization.

Senegal informed the OAU secretariat general that amendments and revisions should be introduced to the text on the Sahara before its official publication as a recommendation at the 75th session of the ministerial council, held ten days ago in Addis Ababa, a Senegalese diplomat told MAP.

The Senegalese delegation, which chaired the closing session of the council, underlined that during the debates, several member countries voiced their adherence to the framework agreement, proposed by James Baker, personal representative of the U.N. Secretary-general for the Sahara, and providing for a larger autonomy for the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty.

This, the diplomat said, should be clearly stated in the conclusions and recommendations adopted by African foreign ministers.

Senegal termed as "disproportionate" and "unbalanced" the version presented by Algeria and its ally, as it tends to be against the standpoints expressed at the OAU meeting.

Senegalese permanent representation to the OAU underlined that the council recommendations must reproduce as faithfully as possible the positions of the countries that discussed the Sahara issue.