Polisario questions effectiveness of latest Manhasset talks

03/07/2008

The Polisario Front may abandon Western Sahara negotiations with Morocco, following remarks by UN envoy Peter van Walsum that independence is no longer feasible.

By Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia in Rabat – 03/07/08

[Getty Images] The Polisario Front has expressed frustration with the process of negotiations over Western Sahara. Leader Mohamed Abdelaziz said: "The Sahrawi people are more determined than ever to defend their legitimate rights."

The Polisario Front is concerned over the usefulness of a fifth round of negotiations with Morocco over the Western Sahara, according to Mohamed Khaddad, negotiator and Sahrawi representative to the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

In a recent interview with Spanish daily El Pais, the official protested UN Special Envoy Peter van Walsum's recent statement that independence is not practical. "We are playing in a game where the referee is casting us out while letting our opponents score," he said.

Abdul Qader Talib Omar of the Polisario Front said in a June 24th press conference in Algiers that van Walsum's comments "killed the calendar for new negotiations".

Talib Omar said further negotiations are problematic because van Walsum's conduct calls into question his neutrality, "which is supposed to be the hallmark of his position."

The Polisario is "getting ready to pursue the option of armed struggle," he said, "but it does not wish to go to war. The UN must take action because violence and the situation are worsening."

Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi told the press Monday (June 30th) in Rabat that his government remains committed to its international obligations despite the setback, saying any withdrawal by the Polisario will simply provide evidence against them.

Khalid Naciri, Moroccan Minister of Communications and government spokesman, said on June 26th that efforts to curb negotiations on the Sahara issue are useless. Morocco, he added, remains open-minded about the negotiation process, with determination to achieve a lasting solution.

"The Security Council resolutions and declarations of the Secretary-General and his personal envoy," he added, "made it clear that parties need to engage in negotiations with good intentions."

Polisario leader Mohamed Abdelaziz also voiced his disappointment over a recent message sent from US President George W. Bush to Mohammed VI expressing the former's support for the Moroccan plan for Western Sahara autonomy, claiming it shows a bias towards the Moroccan side in the negotiations.

Abdelaziz added, "The Sahrawi people are more determined than ever to defend their legitimate rights through lawful means in line with the charter and resolutions of the international legitimacy. MINURSO has not completed its mission yet."

In response, US Ambassador to Algeria Robert Steven Ford on June 23rd said the US administration has no desire to "exercise pressure on the Polisario Front".

"The Western Sahara case has dragged on long enough," Ford said. "Therefore, there must be a fast solution to alleviate the suffering of those people."

The ambassador closed by saying the US administration would never ask the Polisario to accept the Moroccan proposal, and that it welcomes other ideas from the Polisario. Any such meetings, however, "will continue to be under the UN umbrella".

Morocco and the Polisario have held four rounds of negotiations on Western Sahara since June of last year, without achieving any real progress. A fifth round was due in June but has been delayed.