LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Western Sahara Conflict: Referendum
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The latest UN peace plan for the Western Sahara conflict, drawn up last year by former US Secretary of State James Baker, provides for a referendum in four to five years time. This would offer the inhabitants of Western Sahara the choice between independence, autonomy within Morocco or complete integration with Morocco.
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King Mohammed VI's endorsement of a still-undefined type of autonomy for the Western Sahara marks Morocco's desire for a political settlement of the conflict rather than the previously endorsed, but repeatedly stalled, UN-backed referendum. Such a solution will have a long-term impact on Morocco's domestic politics.
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The Western Sahara is one of the few areas of the world left that is officially recognized by the United Nations as being non-self-governing. Since the end of the Spanish colonial rule in 1975, multiple groups including Morocco, Mauritania and the Polisario independence movement have claimed it. A referendum to decide the fate of the country has been proposed, but Morocco developed an unofficial government policy of procrastination in hopes that the world would forget about its occupation of the area. Due to the lack of violence, the small Saharawi population, the Western Sahara issue suffers from a lack of global awareness and third party involvement compared to other world crisis.
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Following rejection by all parties the agreement was adapted in 2003, proposing that Western Sahara become a semi-autonomous region of Morocco for a period of five years—to be followed by a referendum. The eligibility to vote was ... adapted to include only Moroccans who had been continuously resident in the territory since 1999. Polisario has always been concerned that Morocco would flood Western Sahara with pro-Moroccans prior to any vote.
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The President of the Republic, further, recalled that the "implication of the international community in all the efforts aiming at resolving the Western Sahara conflict was justified, fundamentally, by the fact that the UN was facing a decolonisation problem. And as such, it should absolutely be resolved conforming to the Charter of the Organisation, in this context, the resolutions and decisions adopted by its high bodies must be enforced, knowing that all of them had clearly stressed the inalienable right o the people of the Western Sahara to decide on its future in a democratic and peaceful way through a self-determination referendum"
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In its plan, the Polisario Front holds fast to its call for a popular referendum on self-determination for the Western Sahara. The Polisario plan views the referendum as the sole solution to the conflict, emphasizing that there is no alternative. The Polisario asserts that its plan is bound by international law, previous UN Security Council resolutions and the Front's prior agreements with Morocco. In its plan the Polisario underscores its desire to reach a mutually acceptable, negotiated solution. The Polisario Front's plan is based on co-operation with Morocco in the economic, security and social spheres. A Polisario Front official who wished to remain anonymous said that the Front's plan indicates the Polisario's readiness for good neighbourliness and strategic relations with Morocco.
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