Morocco has said its decisions were irreversible but it was still committed to peace.
Polisario urges UN to keep pressure on Morocco over Western Sahara(Reuters)
The leader of Western Sahara's Polisario Front separatist movement on Thursday wrote to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him and the Security Council to pressure Morocco to stop interfering with U.N. peacekeepers.
Last
month, Ban used the word "occupation" to describe Morocco's annexation
of Western Sahara in 1975, when Rabat took it over from colonial power
Spain. Infuriated by what it saw as a shift away from a neutral
position, Morocco expelled dozens of U.N. staff working for the mission
there known as MINURSO.
"We warn that the
absence of real and direct pressure on the occupation state of Morocco
... will be considered a green light to a military aggression by the
Kingdom of Morocco against the Sahrawi people," Polisario President Mohamed Abdelaziz wrote to Ban in a letter seen by Reuters.
Morocco has said its decisions were irreversible but it was still committed to peace.
Abdelaziz said the 15-nation Security Council should pressure Morocco to enable "the
return of MINURSO to resume its work and mandate regarding organizing a
referendum on self determination to the Sahrawi people."
If that does not happen, Abdelaziz wrote, the Sahrawi people "will find itself, again, obliged to defend its rights by all legitimate means, including armed struggle."
The
letter was sent as Ban's office prepares its annual report for the
Security Council on Western Sahara before a council vote this month to
renew MINURSO's mandate. The report, which was due last week, has been
delayed because of the dispute over Ban's remarks in March, council
diplomats said.
Polisario says Morocco is putting
the ceasefire at risk by expelling MINURSO staff and trying to scuttle
the plan for a referendum on independence. Morocco has offered an
autonomy plan as the only way forward.
Several
diplomatic sources familiar with the issue said that Morocco wants the
council to change the mandate of MINURSO so that it will no longer
include the goal of organizing a referendum.
The
majority of council members are opposed, the sources said, though they
added that Morocco has some diplomatic support from veto power France,
Rabat's traditional ally, and African council member Senegal.
The
controversy over Ban's comment during a visit to refugee camps for
Sahrawi people is Morocco's worst dispute with the United Nations since
1991, when the U.N. brokered a ceasefire to end a war over Western
Sahara and established MINURSO.
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