Morocco and Polisario at odds over disputed Western Sahara

The U.N. Security Council is calling for “a realistic, practicable and enduring solution” to the future of the disputed Western Sahara, with the pro-independence Polisario Front again demanding a U.N.-organized referendum and Morocco declaring “there will be no independence.”

The comments before and after the council approved a resolution extending the mandate of the U.N. mission in Western Sahara for a year on Wednesday reflected the huge gap between the opposing parties and their growing frustration at the failure to resolve one of Africa’s longest disputes.

The vote was 13-0 with South Africa and Russia calling the U.S.-drafted resolution unbalanced and abstaining.

Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975 and fought the Polisario Front until the United Nations brokered a cease-fire in 1991.

The Associated Press

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