The Western Sahara independence movement reserves the right to take up arms against Morocco but for now seeks a peaceful solution to one of Africa's longest-running conflicts, the Polisario Front leader said yesterday. "If our right to self-determination cannot be achieved we have the right to take necessary action ... we are willing to die to defend our rights," Polisario Front President Mohamed Abdelaziz said in an interview at the movement's desert headquarters in southwest Algeria.
Morocco along with Mauritania invaded phosphate and fishing rich Western Sahara shortly after colonial power Spain pulled out in 1975, setting off an exodus of the Sahrawi indigenous people to neighboring Algeria. A war between the Polisario Front and Morocco followed until the United Nations brokered a cease-fire in 1991. Mauritania pulled out in 1979. Some 155,000 refugees live in camps near Tindouf, some 2,000 km south of Algiers. They are led by the Polisario Front, the self-proclaimed government in exile. The UN provides aid and monitors the desert area. After more than a decade of UN efforts to secure an agreement over a referendum the issue reached a dead-end last April following Morocco's rejection of the latest plan. The plan would give the territory semi-autonomy for four to five years. A referendum would then let residents pick independence, semi-autonomy or integration with Morocco. Morocco says the proposal put together by former UN envoy and former US Secretary of State James Baker does not respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity. "The UN credibility is at stake. They must ensure Morocco changes its position," Abdelaziz said.
| So things have been droning on for the past dozen years — and that's just since the ceasefire. Damn. That UN is a real force to be reckoned with. |
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