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Annan: UN -Sponsored Talks on Western Sahara Fail

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Reuters
July 13, 2000


Recent U.N.-sponsored talks on the disputed territory of Western Sahara not only failed to make progress but actually ``moved things backwards,'' Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a bleak report on Thursday. He was giving details of a meeting convened in London on June 28 by his personal envoy, former Secretary of State James Baker, with representatives of Morocco, which seeks to incorporate Western Sahara, and of the Polisario Front, which seeks its independence. Two northern African neighboring countries, Algeria and Mauritania, also attended the meeting as observers.

A U.N. settlement plan to decide the future of the former colony from which Spain withdrew in 1976 called for a referendum in January 1992. But it has been repeatedly postponed, mainly due to differences over who should be eligible to vote.

``Despite the efforts by my personal envoy, there was no progress...in resolving any of the multiple problems impeding the implementation of the settlement plan,'' Annan wrote. ``In fact, my personal envoy has pointed out to me, as he did to the parties at the end of the consultations, that the meeting, instead of resolving the problems, had moved things backwards.''

Annan meanwhile recommended another three-month renewal, until Oct. 31, of the U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), comprising 230 military personnel and 46 civilian police. It has been trying to organize the vote while monitoring a cease-fire between Morocco and Polisario since September 1991.

Annan said that, despite the lack of progress in the London meeting, which followed a previous round there on May 14, he hoped for progress during forthcoming expert-level meetings to be held in Geneva on such issues as voter registration appeals, prisoners of war and refugees. After that, he expected Baker to meet with the parties ``in order to try once again to resolve the multiple problems relating to the implementation of the settlement plan, and to try to agree upon any other political solution to their dispute'' over Western Sahara.

Regarding the June London meeting, Annan said that, after stating their already known positions, neither side appeared willing to offer any concrete proposals to bridge their differences. ``They both insisted on a 'winner-take-all' approach, and did not appear willing to discuss a solution where each would get some, but not all, of what each wanted,'' he said. ``Nor did they appear disposed to put aside mutual animosity and begin to negotiate a political solution that would resolve their dispute over Western Sahara.''

Annan said a political solution ``could be a number of things, but most importantly, it would not be a military solution.'' ``Such a solution could be: a negotiated agreement for full integration with Morocco; a negotiated settlement for full independence; a negotiated agreement for something in between; or a negotiated agreement that would permit a successful implementation of the settlement plan.''

But he noted that the positions of parties in interpreting some of the settlement plan's key provisions, and the problems encountered to achieve its implementation, ``do not augur well for that prospect.'' ``Obviously, arriving at a political solution is far more preferable than a breakdown of the process which might lead to a return to hostilities, something that must be avoided at all costs,'' Annan said.

He concluded what he called his ``rather bleak assessment'' by suggesting the Security Council reflect on the problem of ensuring that the results of the referendum -- were one to be held -- were respected by the parties. He noted that no enforcement mechanism was envisioned by the settlement plan, nor was one likely to be proposed, calling for the use of military means to effect enforcement.


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