The Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Western Sahara, James Baker, is due to visit Algeria, Mauritania and Morocco from 8-11 April, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard reported on Thursday.
Baker, a former US secretary of state, will meet officials from the three governments and from the Polisario Front, Eckhard said. Morocco annexed part of Western Sahara in 1975 after Spain withdrew from its colony.
In his last report on the territory, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he wanted Baker to talk to all the parties to achieve an early, durable and agreed resolution to the disputed territory.
Polisario - the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y Rio de Oro - that has fought Morocco for the independence of Western Sahara, declared independence in February 1976. The territory, which the Polisario calls the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, has been recognised by the
Organisation of African Unity, the continent's foremost political body.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
Share this article