Western Sahara
Annan sees no progress in Western Sahara

afrol.com, 27 October - The UN Secretary-General’s report on the UN Mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was issued as document yesterday, and Annan concluded that, "Regrettably, I cannot report any progress in overcoming the obstacles to the implementation of the United Nations settlement plan." Still, the UN mission was extended for another four months, until February 2001.

Annan is unusually clear when blaming the Moroccans for their unwillingness to cooperate. He reports on the third round of direct talks between the Moroccans and the Frente Polisario, which took place in Berlin last month under the auspices of his Personal Envoy, James Baker III. Further, he reports on the technical level meeting held in Geneva in July of this year - both meetings failing in making any progress.

- Regrettably, I cannot report any progress towards overcoming the obstacles to the implementation of the United Nations settlement plan, Annan starts his concluding remarks. "The technical meetings at Geneva on 20 and 21 July 2000 failed to make progress on the main issues, namely, prisoners of war, confidence-building measures for the refugees, and the appeals process. The only positive development has been Morocco’s accounting of the status of the 207 presumed political detainees included in the list provided by the independent jurist. However, it has not been possible to even begin a simple pilot programme on confidence-building measures because of the concerns expressed by the Government of Morocco."

One can only imagine how far away of any agreement the parties were, reading the diplomat Annan's short résumé of the Berlin meeting on 28 September 2000. "The two parties reiterated their well-known views, while expressing their continued commitment to the settlement plan and their wish to cooperate with the United Nations."

Morocco unwilling
The report of the Secretary-General was unusually clear on blaming the Moroccan occupants for the lack of the progress. Annan states: "It is also the view of my Personal Envoy, which I share, that if the Government of Morocco is not prepared to offer or support some devolution of governmental authority that could be discussed at a meeting of the parties during the next extension of the mandate of MINURSO, the Mission should begin hearing the pending appeals from the identification process on an expedited basis, without regard as to how long it might be expected to take to complete them."

Still hope
In response to a question asking if the Secretary-General had given up on the mission due to lack of progress, the Spokesman said that if the Secretary-General had given up, he would have said so directly. Furthermore, an extension of the mission would not have been requested if there is no hope for progress in the future.

Source: Based on UN  sources

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