Origin of Sahara issue is political, U.S general says

The origin of the Sahara issue is "political" and the problem was at the beginning a dispute between Morocco and Algeria, said General Brent Scowcraft, former advisor to U.S president George Bush for national security.

The U.S general said in a statement published on Tuesday by Moroccan daily "Al Ittihad Al-Ichtiraki" that at the start, the Sahara issue was a dispute between Morocco and Algeria, the ally of the separatists who claim the independence of the Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords.

He added that the problem is still a Moroccan-Algerian dispute even if Algeria's backing of the Polisario has somehow slackened.

General Scowcraft, director of a strategic research center bearing his name, pointed out that despite "the agreement in principle on the organization of a referendum (in the Sahara) none of the involved parties is confident enough as to the outcome of the vote to approve its holding."

The projected referendum the United Nations is trying to hold in the Sahara has been repeatedly postponed because of disputes over the lists of would-be voters in the consultation.

General Scowcraft said the question is to know who will identify the would-be voters and who will be entitled to vote, and under these conditions it is difficult to find an intermediate solution, especially so, he said, as "None of the two parties is willing to adhere to the proposals made by the other side."

General Scowcraft, who touched on the situation in Kosovo, the Iraqi issue and U.S-Russian relations, also dealt with the Middle East peace process, pointing out in this regard that the U.S should show more firmness in orienting this process and that there is a strong backing in the United States for the Oslo accords.