Morning Star.png UN S-G Ban to Re-Start Talks for Western Sahara Independence The Morning Star, London, 8 March 2016 UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon has tasked his special envoy to Western Sahara with restarting independence talks with Morocco. Speaking on Sunday following a visit to the huge Tindouf refugee camp in neighbouring Algeria, Mr Ban said he wanted envoy Christopher Ross to meet representatives of Morocco and the Polisario Front national liberation movement. He lamented the world's neglect of Western Sahara and the failure to reach "a politically just, lasting and acceptable solution for all, founded on self-determination for the people of Western Sahara." Tindouf is home to tens of thousands of Sahrawis and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic administration that controls the east of the country. Mr Ban said that the UN was ready to organise a long-promised independence referendum "if there is an agreement between the parties." After Tindouf, Laayoune He said would travel to the Atlantic coastal city of Laayoune, which is the regional capital and the headquarters of UN peacekeeping mission Minurso. Morocco and Mauritania annexed Western Sahara in 1975 under the Madrid Accords with colonial power Spain, the last act of dictator Francisco Franco a week before his death. Polisario, founded in 1973, continued its war for independence with support from Algeria and in 1979 forced Mauritania to withdraw, only to see Morocco occupy the rest of the country. The UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991 on the basis that Morocco would hold a referendum on independence for Western Sahara. But Morocco reneged on that and later pledges, instead offering regional autonomy to Africa's last colony. From: <http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-5dee-Ban-aims-to-revive-Western-Sahara -independence-talks#.Vt6F5vl9601> http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-5dee-Ban-aims-to-revive-Western-Sahara- independence-talks#.Vt6F5vl9601 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
