New round of UN-led talks on Western Sahara to start next week
The United Nations will lead a third round of talks on Western Sahara, bringing together representatives from Morocco
and the Frente Polisario, next week outside of New York City.
"As was the case with the previous meetings, and due to the sensitivity of the ongoing discussions, the talks will once
again be private," UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York.
The three-day meeting which begins on Monday will take place in Manhasset, Long Island, at the Greentree Estate - the
site of the two previous rounds of negotiations that took place in June and August of 2007.
Last month, Ms. Montas announced that the upcoming discussions will be facilitated by Peter van Walsum,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara. Letters of invitation were extended to Morocco and
the Frente Polisario, as well as to neighbouring countries.
The second round of talks in August ended with agreement among the parties that the status quo is unacceptable and the
process of negotiations will continue.
In his October 2007 report on the issue, Mr. Ban said the two sides held mutually exclusive positions that had prevented
them from seriously discussing each other's proposals during the talks.
Morocco holds that its sovereignty over Western Sahara should be recognized, while the Frente Polisario's position is
that the Territory's final status should be decided in a referendum that includes independence as an option.
The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has been in the Territory since September 1991 to monitor
the ceasefire between Morocco and the Frente Polisario.
Last October, the Security Council extended the mandate of MINURSO through April 2008, calling on the two sides "to
continue to show political will and work in an atmosphere propitious for dialogue in order to engage in substantive
negotiations."
ENDS