LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Western Sahara Conflict: Southern Morocco
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Morocco’s forthcoming autonomy plan for the Western Sahara is the first real solution proposed in over three decades which could actually bring the long-running conflict to an end. King Mohammed VI has, once again, relied upon the growing “culture of dialogue” in Morocco to find solutions to significant issues by incorporating the views of all segments of Moroccan society. For example, in 2001, King Mohammed VI appointed an advisory committee of religious scholars and women’s rights activists to review Morocco’s Family Code, and in 2004 created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The creation in 2005 of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) further illustrates the willingness of Morocco’s leadership to use dialogue and consensus to find durable solutions to complex social and political issues.
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The Western Sahara conflict is a de-colonisation issue. Until 1975, Western Sahara was a Spanish colony. In 1965 the United Nations decided that the Saharawis should be allowed to decide if they wanted to live in an independent Western Sahara or not. Spain ... never organised the referendum prescribed by the UN, and instead gave up the colony to Morocco and Mauritania in the infamous "Madrid Agreement". This agreement goes against international law. At the end of 1975, Spain totally withdrew from Western Sahara leaving Morocco to occupy the territory. A vast number of Saharawis fled, first within the territory of Western Sahara, then, after the napalm attacks of March 1976, behind the Algerian border.
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Until Secretary-general Kofi Annan assumed his duties, there is no evidence that a policy discussion about a strategy to resolve the Western Sahara conflict had been held in the Secretariat. The result was that members of the Secretariat and MINURSO had been working in a contradictory manner, often sending confusing messages to the Security Council and the parties as to what the UN was trying to achieve. It is imperative that upon assuming responsibility for resolving a conflict, the Secretariat hold a policy discussion on goals and strategy. Upon agreeing to the settlement plan, Morocco made it clear through public statements that it expected a referendum that would confirm its "sovereignty" over Western Sahara. The Polisario, on the other hand, constantly invoked the principle of self-determination, which in the statements of its officials had become synonymous with independence. MINURSO, the Secretariat, and the Security Council ignored the parties' public statements and actions and proceeded with the notion of holding a referendum on self-determination that could only result in one of two diametrically opposed outcomes.
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The Western Sahara conflict is one of the world's oldest and most neglected. Formerly a Spanish colony, the Western Sahara was claimed by Morocco in 1975 and fully annexed by 1979. Fighting between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, claiming to be the Western Saharan government-in-exile, ceased in 1991 and a UN peacekeeping mission, MINURSO, was deployed. A settlement agreement planned for a referendum to decide the future of the territory. Despite multiple attempts by the UN to resolve the conflict, the referendum has been repeatedly delayed, with the Polisario and Morocco blaming each other for the delay. In 2006, Morocco proposed to give the area special autonomy as an alternative to the referendum, an idea ... far rejected by the Polisario.
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The first step along the road to ending the Western Sahara conflict is to embrace the opportunities that autonomy offers to the Sahrawis and to all Moroccans. Autonomy as “free association” with Morocco is consistent with the country’s evolving democratization. Creating an autonomous arrangement within Morocco implies devolution of power through enhanced democratic processes at the local, provincial and national levels. By committing itself to the autonomy initiative for Western Sahara and to self-determination for the Sahrawi people, Morocco has committed itself to an internal reform process.
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The Settlement Plan for the Western Sahara was an opportunity to resolve a longstanding conflict that had given rise to suffering and countless human rights violations. However, until June 1995 and the visit of a Security Council mission sent to "assess progress and identify problems," the Security Council took no action to investigate criticism of MINURSO or allegations of intimidation and improper conduct by Morocco. As a result, the Security Council has not exerted adequate pressure on Morocco to cease practices that have jeopardized the transparency and free and fair nature of the identification process and the referendum. According to diplomats at the U.N., Morocco's membership in the Security Council in 1992 and 1993, and the fact that it has strong allies on the Council, has strengthened its position.
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