30.01.96
Radio Nacional de Angola, reported by Reuters, announces that, after
his two-day visit to Angola, Alfred Nzo is due to leave for Morocco
and Algeria where he is to discuss the Western Sahara issue. A few
hours before Nzo arrives in Morocco Febr. 01, the South African
embassy in Rabat said the visit was cancelled. It did not say why.
Nzo was expected to travel to Algeria on Febr. 4.
31.01.96
Joumoua Fazzani, Secretary-General of the Libyan Popular Committee,
announces, in a declaration published by the daily newspaper
Acharq Al Awsat, published in London, that the chiefs of
states of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) decided to freeze any type of
meetings before the settlement of the problem between Morocco and
Algeria concerning Western Sahara.
Tunesia and Algeria refute this statement next day. The Algerian
Minister of Foreign Affairs declares that an agreement was found with
Tunesia and Mauritania on Jan. 31 about the response to Morocco,
which asked to freeze of the AMU. The terms of the agreement were not
revealed.
Morocco expressed on Febr. 02 astonishment that three North African
foreign ministers met in Algeria despite Rabat's refusal to
attend.
31.01.96
S/RES/1042-1996
The Security Council renewed until May 31 1996 the 370-member U.N.
Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). The latest
council resolution expressed "deep concern about the stalemate which
has been hindering the identification process" and the consequent
lack of progress towards completing the U.N. plan for the territory.
It called on Morocco and Polisario to cooperate with Boutros-Ghali
and MINURSO in overcoming obstacles and to consider additional ways
of creating mutual confidence. With the aim of exerting more pressure
and trying to speed voter identification, it invited the
secretary-general, in the absence of progress, to submit a detailed
programme for a phased withdrawal of MINURSO. This was one of the
options he suggested in his recent report, in which he said just over
60,000 voters had so far been identified but that another 174,000
applicants still had to be processed. He said if both sides
cooperated fully, that could theoretically be completed in about 22
weeks although a more realistic estimate would be 44 weeks, he added.
Allowing extra time to consider appeals against decisions by the
voter identification commission, he said: "It follows, therefore,
that a period ranging from six months to one year would be required
to complete the identification process". "Extending MINURSO's mandate
for another four months, until the end of May, should give enough
time for resumption of the voter identification process and to "test
the political will of the parties in deed rather than merely words,"
he said. His next report to the council is due by May 15.
01.02.96
Security Council Resolution: Reactions
The Polisario Front is open to dialogue with Morocco, said Bachir M.
Sayed, Sahrawi coordinator with MINURSO. But "Even the word "dialog"
seems yet taboo in the mind of the Moroccan authorities". "Morocco
suffers of a type of mental paralysis".
The Moroccan ambassador at the U.N. declared that "his country had
sufficiently shown to the whole world its sincere will and deep
desire to see this referendum succeed". He hopes: "The Security
Council will show one time the responsible of the crash of the
MINURSO". He did not mention any possibility of dialog between
Morocco and Polisario Front.
03.02.96
According to Mrs M. Albright, US Permanent Representative at U.N.,
the United States still support the U.N. Peace Plan, including its
central part: a free, fair and regular referendum. Both parties have,
in the next monthes, to establish confidence between themselves. USA
wil continue to help to find a solution. This position is understood
by U.N diplomates as an incitement to a direct dialogue between
Morocco and the Polisario Front (APS).
NEW PUBLICATION
- FORGOTTEN GRABS, The Economist,
London, 27.01.96.