Security Council extends UN mission's mandate

The United Nations Security Council voted on Wednesday to extend to July the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in the Western Sahara (MINURSO). MINURSO's mandate is to supervise the implementation of a plan to settle the dispute over the territory between Morocco and the Polisario Front, which favours independence for the former Spanish colony, annexed by Morocco in the mid-1970s. The Council is hoping that with the two-month extension, the two sides will offer the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy, James Baker III, "specific and concrete proposals" for resolving the multiple problems relating to the Settlement Plan and explore all ways to achieve an early, durable and agreed resolution to their dispute. Baker is to chair direct negotiations between the two sides this month. Their first face-to-face talks took place on 14 May in London. The people of Sahara are to decide by referendum whether they want independence or incorporation with Morocco. The referendum process has been deadlocked over the issue of thousands of people judged ineligible to vote.