USA to intervene in Western Sahara?

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Western Sahara

Give it another try

Sep 22nd 2005, LAAYOUNE

From The Economist print edition

Hope for resolving Africa's oldest post-colonial conflict

JOHN BOLTON, the new American ambassador to the UN, may not be
terribly popular outside the White House. But there is one corner of a
sandy foreign field where his appointment is being viewed with some
optimism: the Western Sahara, a territory that has been disputed for
30 years. Recent events, however, may revive international interest,
even raising hopes that the long stalemate can be broken—with Mr
Bolton's help.

When Spain ceded sovereignty of its colony in 1975, Morocco and
Mauritania, on either side of it, laid claim. So too did the Polisario
Front, an armed nationalist movement which sought to turn Western
Sahara (which has lots of phosphate and maybe off-shore oil too) into
an independent state for its largely nomadic people. The International
Court of Justice at The Hague ruled that the Sahrawis had a right to
self-determination, but Morocco sent in its army to occupy the
territory. War with Polisario broke out. Tens of thousands of Sahrawis
became refugees in camps across the border in Algeria, whose
government backed their cause.

In 1991, the UN brokered a ceasefire that called for a referendum on
self-determination, but political wrangling—and Morocco's insistence
that the many thousands of its own people who had been settled in the
territory since 1975 should be entitled to vote—has prevented it from
happening. The UN sent James Baker, a former secretary of state, as a
special envoy to negotiate a new agreement in 1997. But Morocco, which
had agreed in principle to a referendum, rejected his plan; Mr Baker
resigned in frustration last year. The stalemate persists.

But things may again be moving. In May, a series of demonstrations in
the capital, Laayoune, and elsewhere in Western Sahara and Morocco
degenerated into violence and led to the arrests of many Sahrawis and
long prison sentences for dozens of them. Since then, there have been
more protests and more people arrested, including Ali Salem Tamek, a
leading dissident. Two score of Sahrawi prisoners (including a
prominent dissident, Aminetou Haidar) have been on hunger strike in
Moroccan jails for more than 40 days. Several international
delegations and journalists have been deported by Morocco's police on
arrival at Laayoune airport.

Liman Ali, Polisario's man in Britain, says the situation is
"explosive". Many Sahrawis, who liken their plight to the
Palestinians', now call their growing protest campaign an intifada
against Moroccan rule. Polisario is getting more encouragement from
other African countries; most now recognise Sahrawi statehood,
including, recently, Kenya and South Africa.

Morocco and Polisario doggedly stick to their apparently
irreconcilable positions. The Moroccans rule out a referendum, but say
they are willing to explore some kind of limited autonomy for Western
Sahara. "A federal system would be a wise solution," says Hamid
Chabar, Morocco's proconsul. But for Polisario only a vote on full
independence will do.

The UN, still promoting its referendum plan, is again getting
involved. In July, Kofi Annan, its secretary-general, asked Peter van
Walsum, once a Dutch ambassador to the UN, to take up where Mr Baker
left off. Morocco's government, long opposed to loosening its grip on
the area, may now be willing to consider a measure of regional
autonomy. "The fact that they are willing to look at it seriously is a
huge step forward," says another former UN representative. A further
encouraging gesture was Polisario's recent release of 404 Moroccan
prisoners-of-war, some of whom had been held for more than 20 years.

Mr Bolton could be the key. He spent three years working with Mr Baker
on his plan, knows the issue well, and has already expressed
frustration over Morocco's unwillingness to have a referendum. An
American congressman, Joseph Pitts, who has long argued for one, says
that "having [Mr Bolton] in the UN could push the conflict in the
right direction." But don't expect an early miracle.

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Source: The Economist print edition, see also http://www.economist.com

[Shrantellatessa]

Ratification:
...to intervene in the Moroccan Sahara...

Regards,