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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Parties to W. Sahara conflict reach no agreement, will continue to |
| 2008-03-19 |
| Representatives of Morocco and the Polisario Front ended their fourth round of UN-sponsored talks late Tuesday outside New York City without any progress reported on their Western Sahara conflict, but agreed to continue to talk sometime in the future but without setting a fixed date. The fourth round took place in Manhasset, outside New York City, on Monday and Tuesday under the auspices of the UN personal envoy for Western Sahara Peter van Walsum. "The parties reiterated their commitment to continue the negotiations at Manhasset at a date to be determined by common agreement," Walsum said in a communique, adding that the parties discussed thematic subjects such as administration, justice and resources. "Among a number of proposals I made to expand confidence building measures, " he said, "there was agreement among the parties to explore the establishment of family visits by land, which would be in addition to the existing programme by air". The fourth round of talks was attended by Algeria and Mauritania as observers. The previous talks took place last June 18-19, August 10-11 and January 8-9. A UN organized referendum was first scheduled in 1992 to decide whether the former Spanish colony should be incorporated into Moroccan territory or become independent. The referendum has been postponed ever since because of differences between the two sides over who should be eligible to vote. In the meantime, Morocco offered last year a broad autonomy for the province. The Polisario Front rejected it insisting on a UN organized referendum. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |