zondag 16 maart 2008

UN is leading new round of talks on Western Sahara

Starting Sunday, the United Nations will lead a fourth round of talks on Western Sahara, bringing together representatives from Morocco and the Frente Polisario on the outskirts of New York City, a UN spokesperson said last week in New York.

The consultation will be held at the Greentree Estate in Manhasset on Long Island. The talks will also include representatives of neighbouring states, Algeria and Mauritania and will be facilitated by the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General, Peter van Walsum.

Following the third round of discussions this past January, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that while it was a positive sign that the two sides had committed to a route of negotiations, they remained far apart on substantive issues.

The Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement dispute control of the territory.

He said the talks were limited largely to preliminary discussions on thematic subjects such as administration, competencies and organs, and the parties discussed but did not agree on any confidence-building measures.

Mr. Ban noted, however, in a communiqué issued by Mr. van Walsum after the talks, that the two sides did agree on the need to move the process into a more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations.”

Last month Mr. van Walsum visited the region for in-depth consultations with the parties. The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO, has been in the Territory since September 1991 to monitor the ceasefire between Morocco and the Frente Polisario.

Western Sahara, or the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, has been on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories since the 1960s when it was a Spanish colony.

Polisario has won formal recognition for SADR from roughly 45 states, and was extended membership in the African Union, while Morocco has won formal recognition for its position from 25 states, as well as the membership of the Arab League.

At the moment the disputed territory is part of Morocco and administratively divided into four provinces: Al-Ayoun, Wad ad-Dahab, As-Samarah and Boujdour.