Madrid (Spain), August 22, 2010 (SPS) - The UN Secretary General Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, fully held Morocco responsible for blocking the UN efforts to decolonize the Western Sahara, in a letter addressed to the Western Sahara Friends Group, Spanish newspaper “El Pais” reported Friday.
Christopher Ross expressed his deep regret on the Moroccan rejection to discuss the proposal of the Polisario Front in the last meetings between the two parties to the conflict in Westchester County, New York, February 2010, underlining the positive dealing of Polisario Front with the UN efforts.
The American diplomat revealed "The Secretary General and I cannot by ourselves convince the parties to abandon their unyielding attachment to mutually exclusive positions. We need specific support from both the Security Council and the Group of Friends."
He noted that "the current impasse is unacceptable on the long term," warning that the obstruction of negotiations could lead to the outbreak of the situation: “the danger that a military or paramilitary adventure could escalate into general confrontations as long as the diplomacy fails to produce progress.”
“Since my appointment, I have suggested to my Moroccan interlocutors that if they wish to bring the Polisario Front to accept their vision (…), they should demonstrate their good intentions and lenience towards Saharawi independence activists instead of restraining their freedom of movement and expression,” he added.
It is note worthy that the American Diplomat, Christopher Ross, has been appointed as a Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara January 2009 to work to find a political settlement to the question of Western Sahara and application of the Security Council resolutions that call for direct negotiations between the two parties to enable the Saharawi people to its right in self-determination.
The UN Secretary General Personal Envoy for Western Sahara supervised two rounds of informal meetings in Austria in August 2009 and New York in February 2010 without any progress. (SPS)
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Personal Envoy of UN Secretary General holds Morocco responsible for blocking negotiations