United Nations - Prospects for a peace agreement for Western Sahara remain remote despite more than a decade of efforts by the United Nations, according to a report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan that was released on Friday.
Annan's report followed a setback on Monday for hopes for an independence referendum in the phosphate-rich region. The majority of nations represented on a key UN General Assembly committee signalled their disapproval of such a referendum by abstaining from a vote on the issue.
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Morocco said the number of abstentions showed the plan should be revised. It objected to the fact that the resolution did not mention the new special UN envoy to Western Sahara, Alvaro de Soto, who has been negotiating with the parties. De Soto succeeded Baker as mediator when the former US diplomat resigned in June.
Mohammed Salem Ould-Salek, the foreign minister for the Polisario rebel government, said the committee's approval of the resolution despite the abstentions "is a categoric rejection of the colonialist policy of Morocco in the Sahara." - AP
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