UN Security Council discuss Sahara Mission

The UN Security Council, which sees that "a complex resolution covering the four options put forward by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in February, to settle the Sahara issue, may not be the way to move forward, will continue discussing options next week for a resolution to extend the mandate of the UN mission for the Sahara (MINURSO)."

Chairman of the council, Sir Jeremy Greenstock (UK), told reporters after the Security Council held on Friday a closed doors meeting with the UN special representative for the Sahara, William Lacy Swing, he "will try to make a proposal to the Council from the Presidency as to a more straightforward resolution to continue the mandate of MINURSO" (which is expiring on Wednesday).

Referring to Moroccans still held prisoners in Tindouf (stronghold of the Polisario in southwestern Algeria), Greenstock said the Council was "very firm" in calling for an improvement in the humanitarian situation in Western Sahara, particularly a continuation of the release of prisoners of war. "The Council remains very concerned that so many prisoners have been held for so long in poor conditions, many of them ill. It's time to separate out the issue of prisoners of war from the political situation," he said.