United Nations - The UN Security Council on Tuesday deplored the recent violence in Western Sahara but didn't say who was responsible and refused a request by the pro-independence Polisario Front to send a fact-finding mission to the disputed mineral-rich north African territory.
The UN's most powerful body was briefed behind closed doors by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Atul Khare on last week's violence, which broke out after Moroccan forces tore down a tent camp set up by some 20 000 native Saharawi people outside the main city of Laayoune to protest discrimination and deprivation at the hands of the Moroccan government.
Morocco's Interior Minister Taieb Cherqaoui on Tuesday defended the police intervention to break up the protest camp and said there were no Saharawi deaths but 10 police died. The Polisario Front's UN representative Ahmed Boukhari has said independent witnesses reported more than 36 deaths, over 700 injured and 163 people detained.
Morocco has proposed wide-ranging autonomy for the Western Sahara, which it took over in 1979 when Mauritania pulled out. But the Polisario Front insists on the “inalienable right” of the people of the former Spanish colony to self-determination through a referendum on Western Sahara's future, and neither side has shown any signs of budging.
A UN-negotiated truce in 1991 called for a referendum on the region's future, but that vote never happened because the two sides could never agree on voting lists.
For years, the 15-member Security Council has been divided over Western Sahara, with France strongly supporting close ally Morocco and African nations strongly backing Western Sahara, which is a full member of the African Union.
After the closed-door briefing, Britain's UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, the current council president, made a brief statement saying “members deplored the violence in El Aaiun and Gdaim Izyk camp, and expressed their condolences over the deaths and injuries that resulted”.
The council also heard a briefing from the UN envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, who convened informal Morocco-Polisario Front talks outside New York City at the same time as last week's attacks. A statement issued after the talks said “each party continues to reject the proposal of the other as a basis for future negotiations”.
Lyall Grant said council members “urged the parties to demonstrate further political will towards a solution”.
The Polisario Front's Boukhari welcomed the council's recognition that it “deplored” that “violence was used against the civilian population”, but he added “still the cup is empty because we are waiting for the Security Council to act by allowing an investigation.”
“Polisario will continue to ask for the investigation of what's happened to know the truth,” he said.
Boukhari said “knowing the truth will have a direct impact (on) the continuation of the peace process”.
In a letter to the council on Monday, he insisted on a deadline to settle the dispute over Western Sahara and warned that if there is no progress “in a short period” the Polisario Front will be forced to reconsider its role in indirect talks with Morocco.
The Polisario Front got strong backing from Uganda's UN Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda who said the situation in Western Sahara “is grave” and urged the UN or any other independent body to establish the facts about the recent violence. He also demanded full access to the area for humanitarian organisations so they can provide food and treat the wounded.
“This further emphasises the need to have monitoring of human rights in Western Sahara,” Rugunda said.
Morocco's UN Ambassador Mohammed Loulichki insisted that “Morocco has absolutely nothing to hide” and said it had shared all the information it had about the violence with the UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara. - Sapa-AP