UN SG proposes 6 month-Extension of Sahara mission mandate

The United secretary general, Kofi Annan, proposed to the security council to extend by six months, until 30 April 30 2005, the mandate of MINURSO (French acronym for the UN mission in the Sahara).

In a new report to be submitted to the Council, Annan also hopes that the parties will use this period to cooperate with his special representative to end the present deadlock and move forward to a fair, lasting and mutually-acceptable solution.

The UN mission is deployed in Morocco's southern provinces (Sahara) since 1991 to monitor a cease-fire between Morocco and the Algeria-backed polisario secessionists which claim the separation of this region from the rest of Morocco. Morocco retrieved this former Spanish colony in 1975 under the Madrid accords.

The UN chief also calls for the release of all Moroccans detained by the Algeria-backed Polisario secessionists in Tindouf, southern Algeria.