The first round of direct talks in seven years between Morocco and the Frente Polisario holds positive prospects, Khaled Dawoud reports from Manhasset, New York A brief statement issued by the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Peter Van Walsum, announcing that, "the parties have agreed that the process of negotiations will continue in Manhasset in the second week of August 2007," was the most significant outcome of two days of UN-sponsored talks between Morocco and the Frente Polisario which concluded last week. Although officials from both sides conceded to reporters that serious differences remained, particularly on the key demand of the Polisario to hold a referendum on the Western Sahara region which would give its residents the option of an independent state, delegates who took part in the talks and UN sources indicated that there seemed to be "a new opening" which persuaded the two sides to continue talking. Morocco firmly rejects calls for independence, and dubs Western Sahara, which Spain occupied until 1976, as its "southern region". Head of the Moroccan delegation, Interior Minister Shkeib bin Moussa, told reporters that negotiations centred around what is now known as the Moroccan initiative, proposed by Rabat in April and offering the residents of Western Sahara a wide ranging autonomy, but under Morocco's sovereignty. The Moroccan proposal came in response to threats by the Polisario Front to wage what they dubbed as a second "independence Intifada" in the Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara towns to protest against many years of stalemate in dealing with one of the most lingering disputes in North Africa. Upon receiving the Moroccan proposal, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1754 on 30 April, calling upon the concerned parties "to enter into negotiations without preconditions in good faith, taking into account the developments of the last months, with a view to achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara." As in most Security Council resolutions, each party had its own interpretation. Morocco insisted that since the resolution stated that the new round of talks would be held on the basis of "developments over the last months", this meant that the only offer on the table was its new initiative, mainly offering wide- ranging powers for the people of the Western Sahara in the framework of autonomy under Moroccan rule. One Moroccan official told Al-Ahram Weekly that a newly elected body in the Western Sahara would be responsible "for all matters, except for defence and foreign affairs. But the issue of Morocco's sovereignty over its southern region is out of question, and has long been settled by the kingdom." However, Mohamed Khadad, a senior member in the Polisario leadership, who took part in the talks with Morocco last week, accused the Moroccan side of "misreading" Security Council Resolution 1754. "The same day Morocco presented its recent initiative to the Security Council, we also handed the UN secretary-general our own proposals, which are centred around an inherent right in the UN Charter and resolutions: the right of peoples to self-determination. Resolution 1754 mentions both the Moroccan and Polisario proposals," Khadad told the Weekly. In the introductory paragraphs of 1754, members of the council said, they "took note of the Moroccan proposal presented on 11 April 2007 to the secretary-general," and "welcomed serious and credible Moroccan efforts to move the process forward towards resolution," but it also "took note of the Polisario Front proposal presented on 10 April 2007 to the secretary-general." Khadad said that during the two days of talks, also attended by representatives of Algeria and Mauritania, the Polisario delegation offered their own "security, economic and political guarantees" to Morocco "in case a referendum that takes place in Western Sahara led to independence. But we will not compromise on our right to self-determination, in which we should be able to vote on several options: independence, self-rule as offered by the recent initiative, or even integration into the Moroccan Kingdom." Morocco and the Polisario Front engaged in a series of violent and bloody confrontations, which lead to all-out wars involved neighbouring Algeria, following the former colonial power Spain withdrawing its troops from the Western Sahara region in 1976. The Moroccan army immediately moved into the region which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and is rich in phosphates, fisheries and possibly oil. Over the past three decades, Morocco has practically been in control of two-thirds of this disputed and vast region, where an estimated 260,000 people live. Another 100,000 Sahrawi people live in miserable conditions in refugee camps in Tandouf, Algeria, close to border with the Western Sahara. The second day after the Spanish withdrawal, the Polisario Front declared the establishment of "the Arab Sahrawi Republic", and formed a government in exile with its headquarters in Tandouf. The newly created "Sahrawi Republic" was recognised by 60 states, mainly African and Latin American, and admitted as a member to the African Union in the early 1980s. As a result, Morocco suspended its membership in the AU. But the self- acclaimed "republic" has not been recognised by the UN General Assembly. The Polisario Front waged a guerrilla war against the Moroccan army for over a decade, receiving military backing mainly from Algeria, Rabat's regional rival. The fighting ended in 1991 with an UN-sponsored ceasefire monitored by peacekeeping forces and a "settlement plan". The plan called for a referendum in Western Sahara administered by the UN, but both sides stalled for many years over the identity of voters who would be allowed to cast their ballot. After the two sides finally reached agreement on a voters' list in 2000, Morocco rejected holding the referendum and stuck to its old position that independence should not be one of the options offered in the vote. Former veteran US secretary of state, James Baker, was personally involved in lengthy negotiations to reach a deal between the sides for seven years and finally resigned in 2003 after Morocco rejected his last proposal, known as the "Baker plan". He proposed an interim period of self-rule for five years to be followed by a referendum in which all Sahrawi residents would take part, including thousands of people whom the Polisario Front claimed Morocco had intentionally settled in the region over the past decades. Moroccan officials said they were satisfied with the outcome of the talks, "and that all key international players appreciated our initiative which re-opened this issue after years of stagnation." Interior Minister bin Moussa also noted the participation in the Moroccan delegation of Khelihanna Wild Al-Rashid, a member of the Royal Council for Sahrawi Affairs, a Moroccan- created body which Rabat claims represents the wishes of the Sahrawi people, and known by its French initials, CORCAS. "We are pleased that Wild Al-Rashid took part because this means that the Polisario recognises for the first time that there others who represent a different point of view among the Sahrawi people," he told reporters. Morocco dubs Sahrawi residents of refugee camps in Tandouf as "hostages" of the Polisario Front and Algeria, and claims that the majority of them want to return to Moroccan- controlled areas. Moroccan officials expressed their wish that Algeria would take part in the talks directly, but Algerian officials have vehemently rejected this request, and said they only took part as a "concerned party" and observed the negotiations from the outside. The carefully worded statement released by the UN personal envoy to the Western Sahara, Van Walsum, stated that "neighbouring countries, Algeria and Mauritania, were also present at the opening and closing sessions and consulted separately." Observers noted that Morocco's upbeat attitude towards the talks with the Polisario reflected changing world alliances since the conflict started three decades ago. The United States, France and, more recently, Spain, have positively welcomed the latest Moroccan proposal, and said they viewed it as a good basis to settle the long-standing dispute. US State Department officials also expressed their desire to see a settlement of the Western Sahara dispute, saying the continuing conflict endangered efforts to combat the threat from terrorist groups, reportedly affiliated to Al-Qaeda, whose influence has been increasing in that desert region in recent years.
