LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Western Sahara Conflict: United States
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People of Western Sahara on 6 July 2003, Morocco in its final response of 15 April 2004 does not accept essential elements of the Peace Plan. It does not agree with the proposed transitional period of self-government, aimed at offering the bona fide residents of Western Sahara an opportunity to determine their future themselves. Morocco considers that this period would imply uncertainty as to the final status of the territory and ... is likely to usher in an era of insecurity and instability for the whole Magreb and considers that the final nature of the autonomy is not negotiable.
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The UN has spent over US$600 million dollars for its mission in Western Sahara since its inception in 1991. The current estimates by the UN Secretary General puts the cost for the period between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2005 at US$44 million or US$3,670,100 per month. Morocco reportedly spends over 3 million a day to maintain its control of the territory. The costs for the Sahrawi refugees include suffering from infrequent and irregular food deliveries and overall chronic food shortages. A few years ago, the food crisis lead a top World Food Program (WFP) official to underscore the "forgotten crisis " aspect of the conflict by stating that "aid to the Sahrawi people has been chronically under-funded because they are not receiving media attention. " Previous estimates put the number of children who suffered from chronic malnutrition at 35%, while 13% percent of the children were believed to be acutely malnourished.
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Rabat can not then, in no way, pretend to be the power that has got sovereignty or even administrative powers over Western Sahara, "the legal status of its presence in this territory can ... only be illegal. And as it was defined by the UN’s General Assembly in its resolution 3437, it is a question of a "military occupation", the Head of the State recalled.
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MEPs today voted in favour of a Fisheries Agreement that will allow European ships to fish off the coast of illegally occupied Western Sahara, despite claims that this violates international law. Amendments by Green and left-wing GUE groups were voted down, despite support from campaigners and members states like Sweden, Finland and Ireland, and rebellions from within the Socialist (PES) and Conservative (EPP) groups.
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Aside from its rich phosphate deposits and fishing waters, Western Sahara has few natural resources and lacks sufficient rainfall for most agricultural activities. There is speculation that there may be rich off-shore oil and natural gas fields, but the debate persists as to whether these resources can be profitably exploited, and if this would be legally permitted due to the non-decolonized status of Western Sahara (see below).
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Morocco virtually annexed the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara (formerly Spanish Sahara) in 1976, and the rest of the territory in 1979, following Mauritania's withdrawal. A guerrilla war with the Polisario Front contesting Rabat's sovereignty ended in a 1991 UN-brokered cease-fire; a UN-organized referendum on final status has been repeatedly postponed.
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