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Arabs support Morocco in Sahara rift with United Nations
Gulf Arab rulers back fellow monarchy Morocco in its row with the United Nations over the disputed region of Western Sahara, Saudi Arabia\'s SPA news agency reported, one of the worst diplomatic crises over the territory since a 1991 ceasefire.
Riyadh : Gulf Arab rulers back fellow monarchy Morocco in its row with the United Nations over the disputed region of Western Sahara, Saudi Arabia's SPA news agency reported, one of the worst diplomatic crises over the territory since a 1991 ceasefire.
Morocco expelled dozens of UN staff from the mission in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO, after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month referred to the North African nation's 1975 annexation of the region from Spain as an "occupation." Rabat said its decision was irreversible, but that it was committed to military cooperation with the UN to guarantee the ceasefire. Ban has recommended extending MINURSO's mandate for a year, warning that the conflict there was in danger of reigniting.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman, chairing a summit of rulers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh, issued a statement supporting his long-time North African ally as he welcomed Morocco's King Mohammed on a short visit to the kingdom.
The controversy over Ban's comment, made during a visit to refugee camps for Sahrawi people, is the worst between the UN and Morocco since 1991, when the international body brokered a ceasefire to end a war between Rabat and rebels fighting for independence in Western Sahara. MINURSO was established at that time.
The Arab News newspaper quoted King Mohammed as saying: "The security and stability of the Gulf states is in Morocco's interest. We have similar views on common issues which increase the depth of the ties between our nations." The Arab News reported King Mohammed as saying that Ban had been misled by his advisers.
The Sahrawi people's Polisario Front say the desert territory on Africa's northwest belongs to them. Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975 and fought a local independence movement called the Polisario Front until the UN-brokered a ceasefire in 1991, which the peacekeeping force has been monitoring.
Western Sahara, formerly the Spanish colony of Spanish Sahara, is a disputed territory claimed by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front. It is listed by the United Nations (UN), as a non-decolonized territory and is thus included in the United Nations List of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Since the Madrid Accords of 1975, a part of Western Sahara has been administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces. Another section, the Liberated Territories, is administered by the Polisario Front as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Mauritania administers temporally the western half of the Ras Nouadhibou Peninsula. A UN-monitored cease-fire has been in effect since September 1991.
In order to resolve the sovereignty issue, the UN has attempted to hold a referendum through the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), and is holding direct talks between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front. The UN recognizes neither Moroccan[1] nor SADR sovereignty over Western Sahara.
