UN Talks Remain Stalled on Western Sahara Political Solution, but Parties Agree to Accelerate Family Visits for Refugees and Open a 'Road Home'

Violent provocations underscore urgency of reaching a realistic political resolution

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The third round of informal talks hosted by UN Personal Envoy Chris Ross ended yesterday in Manhasset, NY without agreement on resolving the decades-old Western Sahara conflict. The parties to the conflict, Morocco and the Polisario Front, did join together with Algeria and Mauritania on moving forward with Confidence Building Measures to ease the deteriorating humanitarian situation of long-suffering refugees confined in Algeria.  The four nations agreed with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to resume family visits for refugees "without delay" and "accelerate" plans to open a 'road home' through the desert so more refugees could travel from Algeria to visit their families in Morocco. The parties to the talks agreed to meet again in December and early next year.

"The Western Sahara stalemate can be broken, but it will require realistic compromise that meets the basic demands of all parties, and provides the region with stability, security, and self-determination," said Robert Holley, executive director, Moroccan American Center for Policy. "Morocco's autonomy initiative provides the only reasonable political compromise to meet those requirements."  Holley said broad autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty has the backing of three successive US Administrations and many on the UN Security Council.  "It is time this support was demonstrated in actions as well as words," he said.

Holley also urged international targeted aid programs to help meet the social and economic aspirations of the people of the Sahara underlying the recent protests in Laayoune, Morocco. "The violent unrest earlier this week highlights rising tensions in the region, which are partly a consequence of the lack of serious efforts by key parties on the Security Council to actively promote the realistic solution they claim to support.  The murderous violence perpetrated by pro-Polisario supporters who tried to hijack what was essentially a social protest having nothing to do with Polisario political aims, was the latest in a growing number of violent provocations designed to derail prospects for a compromise solution," Holley continued.  "The small group of pro-Polisario supporters in Morocco seem to be taking their lead from the repeated Polisario threats to return to war rather than reach a political compromise that would serve the region and its people's best interests."

Holley said the agreement to resume UN family visits for refugees was a positive step.  Earlier this fall, the Polisario blocked a UN family visit flight and later jailed Sahrawi leader Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud on his return from a UN family visit in September, further complicating efforts to reunite Saharawi families by silencing those within the refugee camps who want to speak out for a peaceful compromise solution.  

Currently, the family visits have a wait list of 17,000 refugees. Most must wait years to visit family members in southern Morocco, despite the fact that their freedom of movement is guaranteed by international law.  Holley said opening a "road home" from the Tindouf camps in Algeria into Morocco would enable many more refugees to visit their relatives, and added that Algeria should allow all refugees the choice to return home.

International experts are also concerned the Western Sahara conflict is creating an obstacle to regional security efforts and an opening for encroaching terrorist groups, including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

"From a humanitarian and security perspective," said Holley, "the clock is ticking for the region and its international partners. The unresolved Western Sahara conflict continues to block regional security cooperation, giving AQIM and other extremist groups new inroads for terrorism and trafficking.  The region needs to find common ground to meet these new challenges, or risk sharing an unfortunate common fate."

The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and interested publics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.  For more, please visit www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org.

This material is distributed by the Moroccan American Center for Policy on behalf of the Government of Morocco. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.

SOURCE Moroccan American Center for Policy