STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UN admits defeat on Western Sahara Security council urged to accept Morocco's annexation Giles Tremlett in Madrid Friday June 22, 2001 The Guardian The United Nations is about to capitulate to Morocco and, on the recommendation of the former US secretary of state James Baker, replace its long-standing plan for a self-rule referendum for the people of Western Sahara by a scheme to turn them into Moroccans. Mr Baker, now the UN envoy to Western Sahara, has reversed 25 years of UN policy in a report to the security council urging it to drop the referendum. UN diplomats in New York said the council would be asked in the next few days to give Mr Baker five months to bring about an agreement which would, in effect, recognise Morocco's annexation of this stretch of phosphate-rich desert on the north-west coast of Africa. Officials said he would try to persuade leaders of the Polisario Front, which represents the once-nomadic Sahrawi people, to accept autonomy within Morocco. His recommendation has enraged the Polisario, which successfully evicted the Moroccan army from part of the territory during a 16-year war which ended in a ceasefire 10 years ago. "This may work for Morocco but not for the Sahrawi people," its representatives in Madrid, Brahim Gali, said. "The point should not be to present alternatives to what is already recognised by international law. No one can substitute our right to self- determination. "We cannot judge a proposal that we have not seen. But it must be remembered that Mr Baker is not the United Nations. The decisions are made by the security council." The Polisario's highly effective fighters were geared up to return to war earlier this year. They halted plans to reopen their desert campaign after last minute pressure from their main backer, Algeria. Morocco moved into the desert region - about the size of the UK - after it was abandoned by its former colonial master, Spain, in 1975. Mr Baker's recommendation, which is said to be supported by the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, follows the UN mission to Western Sahara's repeated failure to organise the referendum on self-determination. Held out as a promise to the Polisario Front when it agreed to a ceasefire with Morocco mediated by the UN in 1991, the referendum was meant to be held eight years ago. About 160,000 Sahrawis have spent the past 25 years living on aid in tents and mud huts in vast refugee camps in the middle of an infertile, stony desert. Frank Ruddy, once a senior UN official in Western Sahara, has blamed the UN for not standing up to the Moroccan bullying that prevented a voter list being drawn up. But UN sources said yesterday that Mr Baker was convinced this was the only way forward. "This report will mark a turning point in the Western Sahara affair," one said. "Without a compromise, this question will never be resolved." Morocco, whose UN representative, Mohamed Bennouna, declined to comment formally, was reported to be happy with the proposal. There was no explanation yesterday of how, in a highly centralised state like Morocco, Sahrawi autonomy might be exercised or guaranteed. The French newspaper Le Monde reported that the plan foresaw Morocco handing over 20% of the income generated by the region to a central-government appointed regional administrator and a local assembly. Control of the police, the army, foreign affairs and customs would stay in Moroccan hands. If the security council votes for the plan, the future of the Sahrawi people will hang on the diplomatic wishes of Washington, Paris, Rabat and Algiers. The first three are reported to be happy to follow the Baker agenda. Algeria has said it is dissatisfied with the proposal, but has sent Mr Baker a memorandum saying it does not rule it out as a basis for talks. Washington is particularly keen to see Algeria and Morocco become friends , and act as a bulwark between the Arab world and the west. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
