From: Francisco Javier Bernal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: MOROCCO (sic): POLITICS-MAGHREB - 10-YEAR CEASEFIRE MAY NOT HOLD. HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- 28/01/2002 MOROCCO (sic): POLITICS-MAGHREB - 10-YEAR CEASEFIRE MAY NOT HOLD. By Nizar Al-Aly. MARRAKESH, Jan. 28 (IPS) - The Polisario Front, which is fighting for the independence of the Western Sahara, says it has not ruled out resuming its war against Morocco to achieve the emancipation of the North African desert area. "My people are preparing for the resumption of war (against Morocco), if this proves a necessary means to obtain freedom and independence," said Mohammed Abdelaziz, leader of the Polisario Front and President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front in 1976 as the political authority of Western Sahara. The republic was admitted to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) during the 1982 summit of Nairobi (Kenya). OAU founder Morocco quit the pan-African body to protest the admission of the SADR, which it considers a "mirage entity." Abdelaziz, who is currently visiting Cuba, one of the SADR's major allies and supporters, insisted "we will not allow anyone to usurp the Sahrawis' right to freedom, no matter how high the price that we would pay is and no matter how long this war will take." A cease-fire between the Polisario Front and Morocco has been in effect since 1991, when MINURSO, the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the region, was deployed in the Western Sahara to oversee a process to hold a referendum over the territory. The conflict began in 1974, when Spain first promised the Sahrawis, the indigenous people of Western Sahara, then a colony of Spain, the right to vote on self-determination. However, Spain withdrew from the colony before the vote was held. Meanwhile, Rabat had already objected to a vote on self-determination, claiming the northern portion of Western Sahara as part of Morocco, while Mauritania claimed the southern portion. The Hague-based International Court of Justice ruled that neither Morocco nor Mauritania could claim the territory of Western Sahara and that the Sahrawis had the right to vote on self-determination. On the day of the ruling, Oct. 16, 1975, the late King Hassan of Morocco announced a "peaceful" Green March of 350,000 Moroccans into the Western Sahara. The Polisario, the political movement formed by the Sahrawis originally to seek independence from Spain, went to war against Morocco and Mauritania when the country was invaded by Moroccan and Mauritanian soldiers. The Polisario defeated Mauritania in 1979, but the war against Morocco continued for many years until the cease fire brokered by the United Nations occurred in 1991. The United Nations established MINURSO to oversee the cease-fire and a referendum allowing the Sahrawis to vote on independence or incorporation into Morocco. With the chances to hold the referendum growing slimmer because of insurmountable differences between Morocco and the Polisario over voters' lists, the United Nations Security Council voted in June 2001 for what it called a political solution to the Western Sahara question. The accord, brokered by former secretary of state James Baker, would confer on the population of Western Sahara the right to elect their own executive and legislative bodies and to run their own local government administration, territorial budget, and basic infrastructure. Within five years, a referendum on the final status of the Western Sahara would be held. Morocco, which considers the Western Sahara "a part and parcel of its territory," already okayed the proposed accord on the condition that it maintain the territory under its sovereignty. But the Polisario rejected using a referendum as the sole possible option to settle the issue. The Polisario chief, who was speaking to Sahrawi pupils in Havana, accused Morocco of "blocking" the referendum process. He voiced confidence that the vote will "inevitably lead to the independence of Western Sahara." James Baker, who acts as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's personal envoy for the Sahara, met last week with King Mohammed VI of Morocco in Marrakesh. No details were disclosed on the meeting, but the Moroccan press said Baker "came with new ideas on ways to speed up the materialization of the framework accord." Another U.S. mediator, Lacy Swing, who is United Nations Special Envoy for the Sahara, visited Algeria last week "to exchange views with Algerian authorities on the prospects to settle the issue." Algeria, which hosts the Polisario in its southwestern town of Tindouf, is the front's mentor and major supporter. Algiers adopts the same position as the Polisario regarding Baker's accord and sees the referendum as the ideal way out of the conflict, which has raged in North Africa for 28 years now. (c) 2002 Global Information Network. GLOBAL INFORMATION NETWORK IPS NEWSFEED 28/01/2002 --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
