Morocco, Polisario Front to start W. Sahara talks on June 18
UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe confirmed remarks by the Polisario that it had received an invitation from UN chief Ban Ki-Moon to begin "direct negotiations on June 18" with Morocco.
Okabe said that, in line with a Security Council resolution adopted last April, the upcoming two-day meeting will bring together Morocco, the Polisario separatists, and neighboring Algeria and Mauritania.
Ban's personal envoy for the Western Sahara, Peter Van Walsum, "will conduct direct or proximity talks as a first step in the process of negotiations," she added. The Polisario earlier Monday said it hoped that this time "Morocco would respond positively and seriously to this invitation."
The Front's national secretariat, which met on Sunday, also hoped that Rabat would not put up stumbling blocks as it had in the past.
Morocco annexed the desolate northwest African territory after the withdrawal of the former colonial power Spain and neighbor Mauritania in the 1970s, settling it with around 300,000 Moroccans in 1975.
A war with the Polisario Front ended in 1991 with a UN-brokered ceasefire.
The UN secretary general was likely to discuss the Western Sahara issue during his official visit to Spain beginning yesterday.
Spain has gradually moved towards a position on the issue which is more favorable to Morocco, after having backed for years UN calls for a referendum on independence for the territory.
On April 30, the UN Security Council urged Morocco and the Front to launch direct, UN-sponsored talks on self-determination in the Western Sahara.
Morocco has proposed an autonomy referendum in Western Sahara that envisages giving Sahrawis "control over their affairs through legislative, executive and judicial institutions" under Moroccan sovereignty and calls for "negotiations for a political solution acceptable to all parties." The Polisario Front rejects the Moroccan proposal, saying it wants full independence.