The UN Security Council last night adopted a US-backed resolution endorsing Morocco's proposal for autonomy for Western Sahara as a basis for resuming negotiations, thus strengthening Rabat's claims to the disputed territory, DPA reported.
Eleven council members voted “in favor” of the resolution, while Russia, China and Pakistan abstained. Algeria, which opposes the resolution and supports the Polisario Front movement, which is fighting for the independence of Western Sahara, did not participate in the vote, BTA specifies.
The resolution represents the strongest expression of international support to date for Morocco's 2007 proposal, which envisages the territory receiving the right to self-government under Moroccan sovereignty.
The document calls on the parties to resume negotiations without preconditions in order to reach a “final and mutually acceptable political solution that ensures the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara“.
Morocco annexed parts of the resource-rich desert territory after Spain withdrew from it in 1975 and has controlled significant parts of it since then. Sporadic clashes continue between Moroccan forces and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front. The United States, Israel, France and several African countries have already recognized Morocco's claims to the territory, which lies between Morocco and Mauritania on the Atlantic coast. US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Walz called the vote "historic" and said it "strengthens the momentum for establishing long-awaited peace in Western Sahara." Algeria's permanent representative to the United Nations, Amar Bendjama, said the resolution did not accurately and sufficiently reflect the UN's doctrine of decolonization. The resolution also extended the term of the UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara by another year.