New York, March 10, 2012 (SPS) - A new round of preliminary negotiations between delegations of the Polisario Front and Morocco will take place Sunday at Greentree Resort, near New York, under aegis of the United Nations and in the presence of representatives of the observer countries: Algeria and Mauritania.
This is the ninth round of the preliminary negotiations that took place between the two parties to the conflict of Western Sahara under auspices of the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Mr. Christopher Ross, and in the presence of representatives of all concerned parties: Polisario Front, Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania.
The eight previous negotiations, aiming to prepare for the fifth formal negotiation, were held respectively in Dürnstein (Austria) on August 2009, Boschstr (U.S.) February 2012, Long Island (New York) November and December 2012 as well as January 2011, Malta (Italy) March 2011 and in Manhasset (New York) June and July 2011.
This round comes after ratification last December 12 by the UN General Assembly on a resolution reaffirming support of the UN Organization to course of negotiation on Western Sahara, calling all the parties and states of region “to fully cooperate with the UN Secretary General, with his personal envoy and among them,” and confirming that the Saharawi cause remains a decolonization issue should be resolved in the framework of enabling the Saharawi people the exercise of their right to self-determination.
The resolution stressed that the General Assembly “supports the course of negotiations initiated by the resolution 1754 (2007), which was backed by resolutions of the Security Council 1783 (2007), 1813 (2008), 1871 (2009), 1920 (2010) and 1979 (2011), that aiming to reach a just, durable and mutually acceptable political solution by the two parties.”
In relevant context, the UN Secretary General underlined, in his report issued last April, that the settlement of the Conflict on the future status of the Western Sahara territory must resort to the will of its population through a popular consultation.
It is expected that the parties will focus on deepening the search on the ideas put forward in the previous meetings in order to reach a solution. They will also continue to discuss new ideas presented by the UN Secretary General in his report issued last April, which is included in the paragraph 120 of the resolution 1979 approved by the UN Security Council.
Christopher Ross, the personal envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Western Sahara, announced on July 21, 2011 during a press conference, following the eighth round of preliminary negotiations in Manhasset, that the parties discussed in a preliminary talk the topics of governance such as education, environment, health and natural resources within the framework of the ideas put forward by the United Nations, and decided to work with the United Nations on the issues related to these resources and demining in order to deepen the debate in the framework of negotiations as well as electoral body.
The Polisario Front stresses, in this regard, on the need to give the Saharawi people the opportunity to decide their future in an atmosphere of freedom and the respect for human rights and emphasizes it cooperation with efforts of the UN and its Personal Envoy in the region in order to guarantee the exercise of self-determination right and respect for human rights as well as the freedom of expression.
The observers underlined that the profound changes taking place in the Maghreb region, within what is called Arab Spring, and the displacement of thousands of refugees and emigrants, prevalence of criminal acts and drug trafficking coming from Morocco “are factors require a rearrangement of papers and collective thinking in the context of a geopolitical and territorial view, which intending to achieve stability and security in the region form southern of the Mediterranean.”
According to many observers, the settlement of the Western Sahara conflict “tops the obstacles hindering the cooperation in the Arab Maghreb region, and that the security stakes in the region require a continued strengthening of the regional cooperation,”
indicating “resolving the Saharawi cause through a referendum of self-determination constitutes a new pillar in the path of building the Maghreb Unity.” (SPS)
090/089/TRA