May 01, 2002, 08:15
Deeply divided over a solution for the Western Sahara, the UN Security Council yesterday extended the UN mission in the disputed northwest African territory for three months to give the council more time to consider the options.
Diplomats said last week that James Baker III, a former US Secretary of State, who has spent the past five years trying to negotiate an end to the long-standing conflict, would resign if the council didn't take action. It was unclear whether he would be willing to stay on for another three months.
Morocco and the Polisario Front both claim the mineral-rich desert region on the Atlantic coast. In February, Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, gave the Security Council four options for Western Sahara after consulting Baker: try again to conduct a referendum, revise an autonomy proposal, consider dividing the territory, or walk away.
Diplomats said US officials told council members last week that Baker would quit his job as Annan's personal envoy if the council didn't approve a US-sponsored resolution calling for a new autonomy plan to end the longstanding conflict. Council diplomats on Tuesday stood by Baker's resignation threat. But a US official backed a statement from UN spokesman Fred Eckhard that Baker has consistently declined to recommend any option to the Security Council, and was not supporting the US resolution.
The dispute over the Western Sahara dates back to 1975 when Spain abandoned the territory and Morocco annexed it, moving settlers in. Some 200 000 local Saharawi people fled into exile and still live in refugee camps in southeast Algeria. Fighting ended in 1991 with a UN-negotiated ceasefire that called for a referendum on whether Western Sahara would become independent or part of Morocco. But UN efforts over the past 11 years to identify voters have been frustrated by disputes over who is eligible. - Sapa-AP
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