Morocco, Polisario plan to continue W. Sahara talks

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12 August 2009

VIENNA, (Reuters) - Morocco and the Polisario Western Sahara independence movement agreed to continue talks after exchanging views in a United Nations-hosted two-day informal gathering in Austria, a U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.

Christopher Ross, the U.N.'s mediator in the conflict, said after concluding the meeting in the Austrian town of Duernstein that he would arrange as soon as possible another round of talks aimed at unblocking the 34-year-old dispute.

'The discussions took place in an atmosphere of serious engagement, frankness, and mutual respect,' Ross said of the talks in a statement emailed by the U.N.

'The parties reiterated their commitment to continue their negotiations as soon as possible, and (I) will fix the date and place of the next meeting in consultation with the parties.'

The statement gave no more details of the talks.

Western diplomats say the row over Western Sahara, a territory slightly bigger than Britain with under half a million people, is hampering efforts to tackle an insurgency linked to al Qaeda that is spreading south through the Sahara desert.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara in 1975 and is now offering it autonomy but the Polisario movement, which fought a guerrilla war until 1991 and is backed by neighbouring Algeria, is demanding a referendum on the region's future.

Algeria and Mauritania, which also borders Western Sahara, were also present in parts of the Duernstein talks, the first direct meeting between the two sides since failed negotiations near New York City last year.

U.N. officials have said the previous four rounds of formal negotiations were marred by 'grandstanding'.

They hoped the new, informal format tried out in Duernstein, a town on the Danube, would be more productive and clear the way for the resumption of formal negotiations.

The dispute has soured relations between Algeria and Morocco and limited their cooperation in fighting al Qaeda's North African wing, who hide out in the Sahara desert and are increasingly active in Mali and Mauritania to the south.

A Spanish colony until Madrid pulled out in 1975, Western Sahara has reserves of phosphates—used in fertiliser—and the potential for big offshore oil and gas finds. No country recognises Morocco's rule.

(Reporting by Boris Groendahl in Vienna and Christian Lowe in Algiers; Editing by Andrew Roche)

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