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Zapatero calls for âdecisiveâ UN role in WSahara
The UN has to take on a decisive role in resolving a dispute between Algiers and Rabat over the Moroccan territory of Western Sahara, Spanish Prime Minister Jose-Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said here Wednesday. "It is up to the United Nations to run the process... with the agreement of all parties" involved, Zapatero told a news conference in the Algerian capital at the end of a brief visit to the north African country. Algeria supports the Polisario Front independence movement in the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara located on its western border, and is home to thousands of Sahrawi refugees. Morocco - which annexed the region in 1975 after Spanish settlers left - has disagreed with the movement over plans to hold a United Nations-sponsored independence referendum following a five-year period of autonomy. As a result UN special envoy James Baker resigned last month after years of fruitless talks."After several years of failure... all the parties have to negotiate, the United Nations must explore all options," Zapatero said following talks with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, adding that to be legitimate a "road map" had to involve the UN and the international community. Zapatero received backing from Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, who said both sides wanted a "just and definitive solution within the framework of international law" for Western Sahara. "We want the process to remain with the United Nations and that it does not become" anyone elseâs responsibility, neither other Mediterranean, north African or Arab countries, Belkhadem stressed. Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-07-15 |
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