Annan cuts short north African tour because of Iraqi crisis

U.N secretary general, Kofi Annan, cut short Thursday a tour in the North African region following new developments in the Iraqi-U.N standoff.

Annan's spokesman announced Wednesday that the U.N chief will go back to New York on Thursday coming from Casablanca.

Annan who was planning to go to Tunisia and Algeria, part of a tour to re-launch the settlement process in the Sahara, launched on Wednesday in Marrakesh a call to Iraq to resume cooperation with the UNSCOM, UN mission in charge of controlling Iraqi mass-destruction weapons.

In a press conference, Annan said he was "saddened" by the Iraqi decision to stop cooperating with the United Nations and called Iraqi authorities to rescind their decision to have the eight-year long sanctions lifted. He added that it is up to Iraq to make the next step after the numerous calls by the UNO and other parties to resume negotiations with Iraq.

Regarding the Sahara issue, which was the core of his tour but was somewhat overshadowed by the standoff, Annan said he held "good discussions" with Moroccan authorities, adding he expects the settlement process to move forward. He went on that Moroccan authorities would send him an answer on proposals he made for the settlement of pending issues in the process.

Moroccan authorities said they would send the U.N chief their answer before the end of this month and renewed resolve to put an end to this issue, adding that Morocco was wishing that the UN-projected referendum would be held in December 1998.

During his stay in Morocco which started on Monday, Annan met twice with king Hassan II and held work sessions with Moroccan officials.

The visit to Morocco also included a trip to Laayoun (southern Morocco), where he met with heads of Sahrawi tribes, notables, local elected representatives and members of the U.N mission supervising preparations for the referendum in the Sahara that the world body intends to hold in December 1999. The vote would determine whether this former Spanish colony, retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accord, would stand on its own as claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario guerilla movement or stay within Morocco.

Annan's tour in the region was destined to get firsthand information on progress achieved in preparations for the referendum and find a solution to the issue of "contested tribes" made of an estimated 65,00 persons of Sahara descent who fled the Spanish colonial repression and to whom the Polisario is denying the right to take part in the referendum.

Before Morocco, Annan was in Mauritania where he said that he came to the region with no "particular project" regarding the Sahara issue and that he would discuss with his interlocutors means to move forward the UN settlement plan for the Sahara.

After Morocco, the UN chief was planning to visit Tindouf (stronghold of the Polisario in south-western Algeria) before flying to Tunisia and then to Algeria. The Iraqi-UN crisis changed the schedules and the secretary general had to go back to his office in New York wherefrom he would try to prevent an armed conflict. His visit in Iraq last February in the latest similar standoff prevented military action.