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Saturday, May 1, 2010

UNSC extends W Sahara mandate

The UN Security Council has extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara (MINURSO) for another year.

Following seven hours of closed-door consultations, the council unanimously passed a resolution to extend MINURSO's mandate, which had been due to expire at midnight on Friday.

The resolution called on Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement to "continue to show political will and work in an atmosphere propitious for dialogue in order to enter into a more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations."

It also urged the parties to continue dialogue without preconditions to achieve "a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara."

The dispute in the resource-rich former Spanish colony of Western Sahara has been a source of contention between Morocco and Polisario since 1975 when Rabat annexed the territory. A UN-brokered ceasefire came into effect in 1991.

Negotiations seem to have reached an impasse between Morocco's proposal to give Sahara autonomy and Polisario's call for a referendum with full independence as an alternative.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125043&sectionid=351020506.

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