Talks on Western Sahara Begin

United Nations, Jan 7 (Prensa Latina) Delegates from Morocco and the
POLISARIO Front will kick off a crucial round of talks to pave the way
for a solution to the conflict on the future status of Western Sahara.

It will be the third time since June 2007 that the two parties meet in
the presence of the UN Envoy for Western Sahara, Peter Van Walsum, to
find a just, lasting and mutually-acceptable solution to the conflict.

The talks are scheduled to conclude on Wednesday at an old mansion in
the New York suburb of Manchasset, where media access has been denied.

The POLISARIO Front, founded on May 10, 1973, proclaimed the Saharan
Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) after Spain withdrew from Western
Sahara.

However, the territory was occupied later by Mauritania, which withdrew
in 1979, and Morocco, whose military presence was rejected by POLISARIO
combatants until 1991, when the United Nations imposed a ceasefire
between the two parties, which is monitored by the UN Mission for the
Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Today's meeting is protected by a Security Council resolution approved
in late April 2007, on the basis of which the two parties held direct
talks in June and August without positive results.

In any case, the delegates from the POLISARIO Front have noted that
their organization will attend the third round of talks with a
constructive spirit and the hope that Morocco takes part in a serious
and responsible way.

There are no clear signs that today's meeting will pave the way for a
possible agreement, because there is no consensus about the two
proposals under discussion.

Morocco says it is only willing to grant Western Sahara's autonomy
under its sovereignty.

The POLISARIO Front proposes a referendum on self-determination, which
would include, along with Morocco's offer, the possibility of
independence.

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