Former UN special representative in the Sahara hails Morocco's efforts for MINURSO success

Special representative of the United Nations secretary general in charge of the Sahara mission, Charles Dunbar, who resigned from his position last week, hailed Morocco's efforts to ensure the success of MINURSO.

In a statement broadcast Monday by the Moroccan television channel "RTM" following a meeting with Moroccan Interior Minister Driss Basri, Dunbar said his meeting with the official was "friendly," adding, "I thanked the minister for his cooperation to ensure the success of the MINURSO mission, in particular, and the UN task in general.

"I told Basri that my mission has come to an end for personal reasons and that I will return to Cleveland to resume my professional activities," he stated.

Dunbar's resignation takes effect this March 31. He has been in charge of the MINURSO, a French acronym for UN mission supervising the holding of a referendum in the Sahara.

Basri also praised Dunbar for the quality of work accomplished during his 13-month mission in southern Morocco and hailed the skills he showed to establish constructive cooperation with the Moroccan authorities and contribute to the implementation of the UN settlement plan for the Sahara.

A U.N spokesman had said that the Secretary general has "accepted with regret" the resignation of his special representative in the Sahara. The UN spokesman explained that when Dunbar was appointed to the post in December 1997, it was agreed that his term would last one year as the referendum in the Sahara was scheduled for December 1998. Since the referendum was delayed, Dunbar requested that his resignation take effect on March 31, 1999, at the expiration of his contract with the UN.

Dunbar's resignation takes place as the world body is making efforts to hold a referendum in which population of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords, would say whether the territory would remain within Morocco or stand on its own as claimed by the Polisario, an Algeria-backed secessionist guerilla movement.

Initially scheduled in 1991, when a cease-fire was proclaimed in the region, the voting has been repeatedly delayed due to obstacles over questions of who is entitled to vote.

Annan is expected to submit shortly a new report on the Sahara issue to the Security Council.