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Security Council to renew mandate for W Sahara mission
The United Nations Security Council is expected to renew the mandate for its mission to the Western Sahara, but delay the expected diplomatic confrontation over a referendum on the territory`s future, a diplomatic source said Monday.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to renew the mandate for its mission to the Western Sahara, but delay the expected diplomatic confrontation over a referendum on the territory's future, a diplomatic source said Monday.
The mandate of the 260-strong UN mission, known by its French acronym MINURSO, expires Tuesday.
Council members are considering two proposals -- one, sponsored by the United States, to renew the mission's mandate for three weeks, and a second, Russian-sponsored proposal to renew it for six months.
The United States appears to have decided for now not to push its previous proposal, to let Annan's personal envoy, former US secretary of state James Baker, revise a plan to give the territory autonomy under Moroccan rule.
That solution, favoured by Morocco, is rejected by the Polisario Front and its backer, Algeria.
The UN mission stepped in to oversee a ceasefire signed in 1991 between Morocco, which controls the former Spanish colony, and the Polisario Front.
The referendum on self-determination for the region that both parties accepted in 1988 has yet to take place. The issue has been stymied since 1991 by disputes over voter eligibility.
In February UN Secretary General Kofi Annan gave his bleakest assessment so far of the chances of a negotiated settlement.
Morocco's King Mohammed VI insisted in March that his country would not give up an inch of Western Sahara, saying any idea of carving it up would threaten regional peace and stability.
The Security Council could also present the two sides with a non-negotiable division of the territory or withdraw MINURSO and write off almost 11 years of work and the expenditure of almost $500 million. Bureau Report
The mandate of the 260-strong UN mission, known by its French acronym MINURSO, expires Tuesday.
Council members are considering two proposals -- one, sponsored by the United States, to renew the mission's mandate for three weeks, and a second, Russian-sponsored proposal to renew it for six months.
The United States appears to have decided for now not to push its previous proposal, to let Annan's personal envoy, former US secretary of state James Baker, revise a plan to give the territory autonomy under Moroccan rule.
That solution, favoured by Morocco, is rejected by the Polisario Front and its backer, Algeria.
The UN mission stepped in to oversee a ceasefire signed in 1991 between Morocco, which controls the former Spanish colony, and the Polisario Front.
The referendum on self-determination for the region that both parties accepted in 1988 has yet to take place. The issue has been stymied since 1991 by disputes over voter eligibility.
In February UN Secretary General Kofi Annan gave his bleakest assessment so far of the chances of a negotiated settlement.
Morocco's King Mohammed VI insisted in March that his country would not give up an inch of Western Sahara, saying any idea of carving it up would threaten regional peace and stability.
The Security Council could also present the two sides with a non-negotiable division of the territory or withdraw MINURSO and write off almost 11 years of work and the expenditure of almost $500 million. Bureau Report