11 July 2007: United Nations -- On Monday, July 9, UN Secretary Ban-Ki Moon retracted certain comments from a report in which he presumably favored Morocco over Frente Polisario in negotiations for Western Sahara. Both sides of the negotiation met at Greentree estate in Manhassat, Long Island in late June. The parties will meet again at the same locale on August 10. These talks are UN sponsored. It was the first time Morocco and Frente Polisario spoke in seven years. Algeria is also a player in the negotiations.

 

"We welcomed the Secretary General's June 29 report on status on Western Sahara," said the U.S. representative from the Security Council. "We urge the parties to engage in a substantive, serious and credible effort to move the process forward. We are looking forward to meaningful autonomy with a realistic framework."

 

She added that she would like to see Morocco remain flexible in keeping with the principle of self-determination for Western Sahara. "We support direct negotiations," she said. "I think that we are leaving the proposals in the hands of the parties. We need political negotiation and political solutions. The Frente Polisario needs to get off the status quo."

 

Ban Ki-Moon said in the June 29 report, "If the negotiations are to lead to a positive outcome, both parties must recognize that the question of sovereignty is, and always has been, the main stumbling block in this dispute, and that it is in this highly sensitive area that a solution will need to be found."

 

Later, certain sections of the original report were deleted. The Secretary General's special envoy Peter van Walsum referred to the deleted paragraphs during a July 11 stakeout at the Security Council.

 

"I don't want to go into the exact reasons why the paragraphs were deleted," said van Walsum. "It was very normal... I respect that decision. We messed up the timing a bit, that's unfortunate. Synchronization was very poor and I'm very sorry about that."

 

He then added, "Whatever you read into it, you'll read it wrong." Van Wulsum stressed instead the positive moves towards dialogue and negotiation between the parties, in hopes of quelling the 32-year conflict over the formerly Spanish territory.

 

The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was enacted on August 30, 1988 (Security Council Resolution 690). Both Morocco and the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y de Río de Oro (Frente POLISARIO) agreed that the population should decide to remain or secede. At the time, the Secretary-General's implementation plan, approved by the Security Council, "provided for a transitional period during which the Special Representative of the Secretary-General would have sole and exclusive responsibility over all matters relating to a referendum in which the people of Western Sahara would choose between independence and integration with Morocco."