March 26, 2002
A representative of Polisario Front guerrillas who dispute control of the Western Sahara with Morocco on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to press on with a referendum on the future of the territory.
"The Security Council has to take its responsibility now," Mhamed Khadad, chief negotiator for the Polisario Front told a press conference in The Hague.
"The voice of reason would be to have the referendum, it's the only decision that can contribute to peace and stability in the region," he said. Any vote in the territory has been blocked for more than a decade. The United Nations is considering four options for the future of the mineral-rich, sparsely populated desert territory which was occupied by Morocco after Spain, the former colonial power, withdrew in 1975.
Both Morocco and the Polisario Front signed a ceasefire agreement in 1991 and a 260-strong UN mission, known by its French acronym MINURSO, stepped in to oversee the pact.
The referendum on self-determination for the region that both parties accepted in 1988 has yet to take place. The issue has been stymied since 1991 by disputes over voter eligibility. In February UN Secretary General Kofi Annan gave his bleakest assessment so far of the chances of a negotiated settlement.
The options the Security Council is considering are:
- pushing ahead with the propose referendum without waiting for agreement between the parties;
- revising a plan to give the territory autonomy, but under Moroccan rule;
- presenting the two sides with a non-negotiable division of the territory;
- withdrawing MINURSO and writing off almost 11 years of work and the expenditure of almost 500 million dollars (570 million euros).
Khadad said the Polisario Front backed the referendum because it was the only plan that takes into account "the will of the Saharan people". He warned that tensions in the Western Sahara were on the rise and said some of the UN's proposed solutions could lead to "new military activities".
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