Washington, January 18, 2017 (SPS) - The peace process in Western Sahara is now on the brink of collapse, weakened by the obstacles set up by Morocco for the holding of a referendum on self-determination of the Sahrawi people, wrote recently the American newspaper New York Times.
“The fragile architecture of peace in Western Sahara is now on the brink of collapse. The 1991 cease-fire promised the people of Western Sahara a referendum on self-determination. More than 25 years later, it has not taken place,” said the author of the article entitled “the next war of North Africa,” published on Monday.
“The refugees born and raised in exile are beating the drums for war,” wrote the journalist who visited recently El Guerguerat and Tindouf where she met with Sahrawi President Brahim Gali.
“Morocco has for more than two decades stonewalled the referendum that is the primary mandate of the United Nation Peacekeeping Mission (MINURSO),” said the journalist Hannah Armstrong, underlining that “the pace of change has been accelerating since last year, when Morocco expelled more than 70 civilians working for MINURSO after Ban Ki-moon, then the United Nations Secretary General, described the Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara as an “occupation.”
Morocco has maintained its willingness to undermine the peace agreement in Western Sahara by violating the cease-fire and sending forces to impose the construction of a controversial road crossing the territories under the control of the Frente POLISARIO, said the American newspaper. SPS
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