Voicing doubts about the possibility of implementing the current settlement plan for the Western Sahara, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Saturday urged talks on a new framework accord for resolving the dispute.
The current settlement calls for a referendum to allow the people of the territory to choose between independence or integration with Morocco.
In a new report to the Security Council, which in April 1991 set up the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), Annan recalled that it was understood at the time that during the implementation process, there would have to be direct talks between the parties to achieve the compromises necessary for carrying out the plan.
However, because of the parties' unwillingness to work together, the UN started submitting proposals, which the parties would proceed to revise and dilute, he said, cited by the UN online news service.
This process, he added, became a "zero-sum game" that each side felt it absolutely had to win, since, "due to the nature of the agreement that the United Nations was trying to implement, the referendum would produce one winner and one loser and the stakes were therefore too high."
Noting that over the years the UN had pursued efforts to convince the parties to cooperate in the process, Annan pointed out that perhaps the organization "erred on the side of unfounded optimism and persisted in its efforts longer than it should have."
Annan agreed with the conclusion of his personal envoy, former United States secretary of state James Baker, that "there are serious doubts as to whether the settlement plan can be implemented in its present form in a way that will result in an early, durable and agreed resolution of the dispute over Western Sahara."
Under these conditions, Annan expressed hope that Morocco, the Polisario, Algeria and Mauritania would agree to meet under the auspices of Baker to discuss the proposed framework agreement on the future status of Western Sahara, which, he stressed, "does not foreclose self-determination, but indeed provides for it."
That framework would confer on the population of Western Sahara the right to elect their own executive and legislative bodies and to have exclusive competence over "local governmental administration, territorial budget and taxation, law enforcement, internal security, social welfare, culture, education, commerce, transportation, agriculture, mining, fisheries and industry, environmental policy, housing and urban development, water and electricity, roads and other basic infrastructure."
Within five years, a referendum on the final status of the territory would be held.
During negotiations, "the settlement plan will not be abandoned but will be put on hold," Annan said.
He recommends that the Security Council extend MINURSO's mandate through November 30 to give time for consultations on the proposed framework, which, he said, "offers what may be the last window of opportunity for years to come." - Albawaba.com
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