West Sahara talks end

UN: Little progress has been made as the latest round of the United Nations-sponsored informal talks on West Sahara concluded Sunday in New York’s Long Island. The proposals from two parties of the talks (Morocco and the Frente Polisario) were raised again, but “by the end of the meeting, each party continues to reject the proposal of the other as a sole basis for future negotiations,” according to a communique issued by Christopher Ross, personal envoy of the UN secretary-general for Western Sahara, after the three-day meeting at Greetree, Long Island.

Fighting broke out between Morocco and the Frente Polisario following the end of the Spanish colonial administration of the Western Sahara in 1976. Morocco has presented a plan for autonomy, but the Frente Polisario believes the territory’s final status should be decided in a referendum on self-determination that includes independence as an option. Backed by the UN, four rounds of informal talks on West Sahara had been held before the latest round.

During the latest talks, the parties engaged in extensive discussions on innovative approaches to build a new dynamic for this process on the basis of regular meetings, said the communique.

The parties welcomed the resumption of family visits by air, said the communique. “As agreed during the third round of informal talks, the four delegations intend to meet with the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva in early February to review in full the implementation of the Plan of Action for the Confidence Building Measures and to advance the implementation of family visits by road.”

United Nations, Monday, Xinhua