Saharawis denounce Moroccan "intransigence" and declare future round of talks
12/08/2007- APS

The talks between POLISARIO Front and Morocco, in the second and last day of this second round organised in Manhasset, near New York, "mark the step" and took place in "a heavy atmosphere" because of the intransigence of Morocco, which is trying to impose its autonomy plan, Saharawi officials declared on Saturday to the Algerian Press Service.

Declaring a future third round, "probably in Europe", before the end of this year, Mr. Radhi Bachir Seghaïer, Councillor to the Saharawi President, and Mr. Brahim Ghali, POLISARIO Front’s Representative in Spain, both members to the Saharawi negotiating team, denounced "the fixed position" of the Moroccans, who did not want to speak about anything but the "autonomy".

"In Manhasset 2, we turned in circles. The Moroccans kept by their fixed position. They did not accept any other initiative", Mr. Seghaïer underlined, stressing that the talks were not on the level of our expectation.

Asked about the possible progress realised since the first round of the talks, in June 18 and 19, 2007, the Saharawi diplomat indicated that despite the efforts of the UN’s mediator. Peter Van Walsum, to push the discussions forward, and despite the "flexibility" and "the willingness" of the Saharawis to advance in the negotiations, "the Moroccans seem to be observing some firm orders, they repeat the same ideas about the autonomy and refuse to discuss themes and specific dossiers such as the questions related to the refugees, prisoners, the military wall, the question of landmines, the exploitation of the natural resources, the free movement of the persons and the visits between the families".

The Saharawi delegation, strong by the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and the support of the international community, regretted that the "Moroccans do not get out of their isolation, admit the facts on the situation in Western Sahara and subscribe to the last UN Security Council’s resolution 1754 (2007) that calls on the two parties to negotiate in good will and without pre-conditions on the basis of the propositions of the two parties to the conflict with a view to provide for the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination". They stick by their intransigent position.

Confirming the readiness of the Saharawi delegation to continue the discussions "in a near future", probably in Europe, "with a view to realise a breakthrough in the search of a political and mutually acceptable solution", the Saharawi delegate regretted that "the Moroccan wants at any price to block these negotiations that should ensure peace and stability in the region".

To the former Saharawi Minister of Defence and current Representative to Spain, Mr. Brahim Ghali, The firmness of the Moroccan government, which "does not want to discuss anything but the project of autonomy is an unacceptable condition".

The Moroccan intransigence "does not serve the shared will of the UN and the Saharawis, in addition to a great number of nations, in supporting the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination".

"The discussions, during this second round, did not progress. They retreated in fact, because of the position the Moroccan delegation defended in refusing to put on the table anything except its autonomy plan", the Saharawi diplomat declared after the talks of Saturday morning.

"If the agenda elaborated by the Secretary Generals’ representative enabled the two parties to meet again in Manhasset 2 and even agree on a future round, the good will of the UN to keep the negotiations within the framework of the UN Security Council’s resolution 1754 did not convince the Moroccans to get out of the impasse of presenting only the option o autonomy", Mr. Ghali indicated.

"The Moroccans are trying to impose their diktat and consecrate the colonial fait accompli", he said.

"They continue to present the same discourse and same arguments without any apparent progress in the way of the search of a political solution that benefits to the two peoples", he underlined, adding that the two parties remain ready to continue the talks