Western Sahara conflict

[Al-khiyal]

The satisfaction of the Moroccans, the Algerians and the Polisario Front with the outcome of the UN vote on the resolution drafted by the UN General Assembly's forth committee can only be understood in terms of the different interpretations and readings in the politics of an event of this kind.

The political debate on the Saharan issue at the UN General Assembly mainly addresses legal challenges, the most important of which being that UN resolutions and recommendations - according to the international organization's charter - are not binding in nature, since the Saharan Issue has been listed on the UN Security Council agenda under the category of files and issues that require consensual resolutions non-binding to concerned parties outside the reached consensus.

Furthermore, relevant UN Security Council resolutions provide a vague formula for a 'political solution' that can only reached through direct, unconditional negotiations among the sides concerned in the Saharan issue.

The recommendations and resolutions of the UN General Assembly are, by definition, consultative in nature and meant to conform with, and reflect, the Security Council's general disposition on the issue, and, at least, play a catalyst role in deciding the path that will lead to a resolution.

This may explain the reason for the decision by a majority of the member States to abstain from voting for the Algerian draft resolution, encouraging Rabat to interpret such a decision as an endorsement to proposals for a political solution as means of resolving the current deadlock.

Algeria and the Polisario Front perceive the returning to the 1991 referendum plan stipulated by the resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly as an alternative to a political solution, even though, once convinced that is the path to a resolution, the Security Council decision to return to the referendum plan would be inevitable.

Conflicting sides unanimously viewed the UN vote as a sort of exit, which was the source of the satisfaction.

As a rule, draft resolutions and recommendations issued by the fourth Committee were mostly consensual in nature, and both the Moroccans and the Algerians have reached a consensus on joint projects that reflected the extent of their improving bilateral relations in the past.

While voting on recommendations by the fourth Committee does not restrict the outcome of the voting procedure to 'in favor' or 'against', but to voting for the draft, or to abstain from voting, which is the political equivalent of a rejection of the draft or a withdrawal from participation in its possible implementation by any given side.

The main reason for ambiguity that made such methods necessary lies in the fact that the non-binding nature of the resolutions and recommendations does not necessarily dictate the adoption of final and permanent stances on the issue. Therefore, while the Moroccans perceived abstentions as just, the Algerian and the Polisario perceived it them as a victory.

Eventually, objectives sought by the UN Security Council in dealing with ongoing developments constitute the key criterion for interpretation and comprehending the process.

The main responsibility that lies before the sides of the conflict does not lie in avoiding overreacting to legal and political interpretations that diverge over principals and key objectives upheld by each side, but rather lies in the full cooperation with the Security Council, which laid down specific a timetable that starts with speeding up direct negotiations in order to arrive at a consensus over a formula for a permanent solution backed by the Security Council.

Unless a comprehensive agreement on all the fundamental differences is reached, talk of a compromise will be difficult to swallow.

One of the key objectives of the UN Security Council is to define an outline of the consensus on a political settlement to this long standing conflict.

The outlines of the proposed political settlement sought by the Security Council will certainly be able to accommodate all differences without producing winners and losers.

In any referendum, there must be those who accept and those who reject. And in any war, there must also be a winner and a loser. Only a political solution is capable of making years of war, suffering and division a thing of the past.

Using democratic overtures, the Moroccans say they are consulting with the Saharans, political parties, and Moroccan civil society groups on the proposed self rule, touted as a democratic solution.

Who knows, if they had taken the trouble to consult with their closest neighbors, would they still have taken the wrong path? It is always wise to seek advice, because if peace is possible with foes, then why not with neighbors, as well?

The concurrence needed for a Saharan resolution

[Al-khiyal]

TIFARITI, Western Sahara: On a rocky hilltop deep in the Sahara Desert, five soldiers warm themselves around a charcoal brazier, sipping tea and dreaming of a war that doesn't come.

Their enemy, the Moroccan army, crouches behind fortifications just 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the west across a moon-flooded plain. But the two sides' guns have been silent for 15 years.

For the five soldiers, that is 15 years too long.

They belong to the Polisario Front, a well-armed and increasingly impatient force of indigenous Saharawis who want independence for their homeland — the vast Western Sahara — which Morocco has occupied since 1975.

For now, a cease-fire in place since 1991 holds on this forgotten front, overshadowed by conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. But the drumbeat for a return to war is growing louder both among Polisario troops and the 160,000 Western Saharans in dusty refugee camps in southwest Algeria's desert.

A promised U.N. referendum meant to decide Western Sahara's fate remains just that — a promise. After 15 years of lobbying for the vote, which Morocco stubbornly rejects, patience among Polisario fighters is wearing thin.

"I know that land stone by stone," mused Ali-Taleb Najem, a graying veteran. "When it's time to attack, we'll know what to do."

An incredulous giggle ripped from Saleh Ahel-Baidan, a shy 18-year-old with a wispy mustache.

"What, you don't believe me?" said Najem patiently. He has spent most of his life campaigning in this desert and has breached the Moroccan lines more than once.

"OK, OK, I believe you," Saleh said, regaining composure.

Saleh joined the men only four months ago. He has never seen his enemy but said stoutly: "I'm looking forward to it."

For now, chances of a new war are low, but the stakes would be high. The California-sized territory hugging North Africa's Atlantic Coast is rich in minerals and suspected offshore oil — wealth that enticed Morocco to invade Western Sahara, ceded it in 1975 by outgoing colonizer Spain.

Holding on to Western Sahara pits Morocco against Algeria, even as the U.S. wants the two regional heavyweights to work together against Islamic extremism. Algeria backs Polisario because it wants to check Morocco's attempt to expand its territory, and expects access to Western Sahara's resources and ports should Polisario finally win.

So far, Algeria has shown little appetite for another war, and Polisario leaders in the refugee camps are unlikely to start one without Algeria's permission. But Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been unflinching in his support for Polisario — last month, he urged visiting Spanish leaders to press Morocco to allow an independence referendum for Western Sahara.

For the Polisario fighters, ending the stalemate looks increasingly urgent as morale crumbles on the home front — the refugee camps.

"There's some slipping of the sense of hope and future," especially among young people, said Janet Lenz, who oversees charity work in the camps by Christ the Rock Church in Wisconsin.

"Their parents gave up everything to the cause with the idea of getting back to the homeland. The young generation doesn't even know the homeland."

Even their parents would hardly recognize it now. Morocco has poured money and settlers into the empty desert, building towns and infrastructure. Moroccans, lured by tax breaks and government jobs, now outnumber the estimated 50,000-90,000 Saharawis still living there.

In November, the U.N.'s World Food Program, which distributes food to the camps, warned that a lack of donations threatened 90,000 of the poorer refugees with rare food shortages. The WFP did not explain why donors have cut back support.

"We're just waiting for the order — we want to attack," said Commander Hamdi Mohamed, a lanky career Polisario soldier in a crisp olive uniform who leads a battalion on the border. He blames the U.N. intervention for thwarting Western Sahara's shot at independence.

During the 1975-1991 hot war, Polisario built on the Saharawis' camel-raiding heritage to launch surprise assaults on Morocco's sluggish conventional army.

Whenever Morocco retaliated with its modest air force featuring French Rafale and Mirage fighter jets, Polisario would vanish again into the desert before the planes could do much damage.

Morocco raised a 1,600-mile (2,575-kilometer) sand wall in defense as combined casualties mounted into the thousands. This left the two armies facing off across a mine-ridden no man's land. Occasionally Polisario overtook the wall in fierce dawn assaults before the 1991 cease-fire put the fighting on indefinite hold.

Mohamed blames the lack of international attention paid Western Sahara on the fact that "we have had a clean war, without any suicide bombings or killing civilians."

Saharawis complain that they have worked hard to play by the rules, but it has gotten them nowhere.

The refugee camps are well-organized and their society egalitarian. The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, an exile government led by Polisario, is a democracy recognized by some 60 countries that Saharawis consider a blueprint for a free Western Sahara.

Women's rights are widely respected, literacy in the camps is more than 90 percent, and many people study at universities abroad — mainly in Spain, Cuba and Algeria — through scholarship programs.

But the U.N.'s failure to advance their cause "is sending the message that everything (the Saharawis) are doing is not useful, that maybe they should be violent," said Malainin Lakhal, head of the Saharawi Journalists' Union.

Upcoming elections to the Saharawis' governing congress could put more restless young leaders at the top.

Although a new war looks remote, the U.N. isn't taking chances: The Security Council routinely extends the 300-strong peacekeeping mission installed in 1991, largely to observe and guarantee the cease-fire.

Morocco has deployed 160,000 troops — the bulk of its army — in Western Sahara. U.N. mission officers believe Polisario's soldiers number thousands, nestled into the landscape in small groups carrying Kalashnikovs and anti-aircraft missiles, and driving Landrovers and Soviet-made tanks supplied by Algeria and Libya.

Absent any fighting, the men perform field exercises and scout Moroccan positions, said Saleh. He enjoys the camaraderie and nights under the stars, but isn't sure if he would stay a soldier in a free Western Sahara.

Commander Mohamed would. "I like my job and it's what I know."

Saharan refugees long for new battle on a forgotten front

[Al-khiyal]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council Thursday (February 1st) that he plans to appoint British diplomat Julian Harston as his special envoy for Western Sahara and head of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara. Harston will replace Italian Francesco Bastagli. The move aims at "spearheading efforts to re-start the long-stalled peace process in Western Sahara," the UN said.

Ki-moon appoints British diplomat Julian Harston Special Representative for Western Sahara

[Al-khiyal]

Algerian daily: Morocco "censoring" pro-Sahrawi Internet sites

[Al-khiyal]

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Western Sahara's independence movement said on Monday it hoped the next French president would help resolve Africa's oldest territorial dispute by ending what it called France's pro-Moroccan stance.

Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, foreign minister of the self-proclaimed government in exile and a senior member of the Polisario Front independence movement, told a news conference France's role was of fundamental importance because of its close ties to north Africa.

"We hope that the successor to (President Jacques) Chirac better understands that stability in the Maghreb depends on the satisfaction of the right of the Saharan people to self-determination and that France can contribute to that," he said.

"It's in its (France's) interest and in the interest of peace and of regional cooperation."

France is a close ally of Morocco but denies any partiality in Morocco's dispute with the Algerian-based Polisario Front over the northwest African territory of some 260,000 people.

Morocco, claiming centuries-old rights over a territory rich in phosphates, fisheries and possibly offshore oil, annexed Western Sahara when Spain withdrew in 1975.

That triggered a guerrilla war that ended in 1991, when the United Nations brokered a truce and sent in peacekeepers in anticipation of a self-determination referendum. The vote never happened and Morocco now insists the most it will offer is regional autonomy.

Morocco sees France as the main supporter for an autonomy proposal drafted by a Moroccan advisory council in December. Diplomats say King Mohammed dispatched an official delegation to brief Chirac on Monday on the autonomy blueprint.

Ould Salek, speaking in reply to questions, said: "As far as the (French) elections are concerned, we consider that this is a crucial question."

"Unfortunately since the start of the conflict, France, and above all the France of Chirac, has sided completely with the aggression, with the Moroccan attitude."

France goes to the polls in a first round on April 22 with a second round run-off set for May 6 between the two top candidates. The main candidates are Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy and Socialist Segolene Royale.

Ould Salek reiterated his administration's objection to the autonomy blueprint. Once King Mohammed endorses the plan, Rabat is expected to launch a diplomatic campaign to drum up support for autonomy at home and abroad.

The U.N. Security Council voted in October to keep peacekeepers in Western Sahara for six more months but shunned a plea that Morocco do more to safeguard human rights in the territory after France objected.

Polisario urges France to change Western Sahara stance

[Al-khiyal]

A new Moroccan plan to grant substantial autonomy to its restive Western Sahara region offers the best chance to end a damaging stalemate with neighboring Algeria and resolve Africa's oldest territorial dispute, a top Moroccan diplomat said yesterday.

"This is a plan that can create a new reality not just for Morocco but for the North Africa region and for the United States, the African Union and Europe," said Taib Fassi-Fihri, Morocco's minister-delegate for foreign affairs and cooperation.

"In the context of the challenges we all face in the Arab world, from radicalism, terrorism and al Qaeda, it would be extremely useful for everyone to have this problem resolved," he said in an interview.

He noted that on the day he was visiting Washington, a group linked to al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a series of bomb attacks against police stations in Algeria, killing six persons and underscoring the threat of militant Islamist forces in the region.

Mr. Fassi-Fihri was in Washington to brief U.S. officials on the "negotiated autonomy" plan, approved by King Mohammed in December after extensive consultations with the country's leading political parties and social groups.

It aims to end a territorial dispute dating back to 1975, when Morocco took control of the sparsely populated but resource-rich Western Sahara after colonial power Spain withdrew. That triggered an armed clash with the Algerian-backed separatist Polisario Front, which claims to be defending the rights of the region's nomadic Saharawi people.

A U.N.-negotiated cease-fire ended the shooting war in 1991, but Algeria and the Polisario Front never recognized Morocco's claim and a planned self-determination referendum for the Western Sahara has been blocked repeatedly.

Mr. Fassi-Fihri said the dispute with Algeria has created serious obstacles to the region's economic development and its ability to unite on common problems. Refugees from the fighting in Western Sahara remain in camps on the Algerian side of the border about 32 years after the fighting first erupted.

"Our border with our neighbor is totally closed off. It is an incredible situation," Mr. Fassi-Fihri said.

Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, foreign spokesman for the Polisario separatist government in exile, sharply rejected the new Moroccan autonomy plan earlier this month.

"The occupier's plan is null and void. It is stillborn," he told reporters in Algiers.

But Moroccan officials say they have received a good hearing in Washington and European capitals. French President Jacques Chirac called Rabat's proposal "constructive" earlier this month after a visit from the Moroccan delegation.

Mr. Fassi-Fihri said Moroccan officials plan to refine the proposal after gauging international reaction and present a concrete proposal to the U.N. Security Council in April, when a vote is scheduled to extend the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara.

He said Morocco could impose the autonomy proposal on its own, but wanted a solution that had U.N. backing and that addressed the refugee question.

"This is not a tactical move but a strategic approach from us to deal with all the problems holding back our region," he said.

Western Sahara hope seen - Moroccan diplomat

[Al-khiyal]

A Moroccan government delegation, led by Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa, was in London on Wednesday (February 21st) to present its proposal for the solution of the ongoing dispute over Western Sahara. The delegation was received by British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Margaret Beckett, State Minister at the Foreign Office in charge of the Middle East, Kim Howells, and Home Secretary John Reid. The delegation also held talks with members of the British Parliament.

In related news, self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) Prime Minister Abdelkader Taleb Oumar said the international conference of solidarity with the Western Saharan population will be held on Monday and Tuesday in Tifariti. The event will coincide with celebrations of the 31st anniversary of the self-proclamation of SADR. More than 800 guests from Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia are expected to take part in the forum.

Morocco presents its Western Sahara plan in London