- James Baker III, the UN's mediators in the age-old Western Sahara conflict, has resigned. During the seven years the former US Secretary of State held this office, he gave the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario a high international profile. A solution, however, is still not within reach.
The UN this night announced that Mr Baker had resigned from his Western Sahara mediation post - or as UN "Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara," as his office correctly is termed. The political heavy-weighter with personal contacts in the Bush administration of the US had managed to pull the Sahara conflict out of its anonymous existence.
Since his appointment in March 1997, Mr Baker, along with the UN mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO), had been helping the parties settle the territory's status. The UN mission has been operating since April 1991, when it was installed after years of fighting between Western Sahara's independence movement, Polisario, and Morocco following Spain's withdrawal from the territory in 1976 and Morocco's consequent occupation.
Mr Baker inherited a failing peace process, which had started as the UN in 1991 had been asked by Morocco and Polisario to organise a referendum among Western Sahara's original population, whether they wanted full independence or being part of the Moroccan Kingdom. For ten years, the parties could not agree on who was eligible in the referendum, in a process that has been described as Moroccan tactics to thwart the poll.
Despite several UN Security Council decisions to let the Sahrawis vote in a referendum and despite this being the condition for the 1991 ceasefire, Mr introduced other possibilities on how to find a solution to the conflict. By giving up the original referendum scheme, Mr Baker alienated the Sahrawis, but assured renewed action in the peace process.
His many controversial proposals only were possible due to the immense weight Mr Baker has in international politics. Being a close friend of the Bush family, he could also count on Washington's pressure to see his proposals carried out.
This weight however was not enough as Mr Baker proposed to give up the referendum scheme and make Western Sahara an autonomous Moroccan province. This plan was several times rejected by the UN Security Council, despite US and French pressure. The Council's majority demanded "self-determination" for the Sahrawi people; meaning referendum.
Mr Baker used this split in the Council to present a compromise; the so-called Baker Plan. This latest plan calls for the establishment of Western Sahara as an autonomous Moroccan province, administered locally by the Polisario, during five years. Then, according to the plan, all inhabitants of the territory - including Sahrawis and the many Moroccans that have been moved there - are to vote in a referendum regarding independence.
This plan has been endorsed by the UN Security Council, which only in April this year affirmed that the Baker Plan was the "optimum political solution" to the conflict. The Polisario grumblingly has accepted the Baker Plan.
But in April, Morocco rejected the peace plan and insisted categorically that the Kingdom could not negotiate over Western Sahara's independence. The "Southern Provinces" - as Rabat calls the territory - was an integrated part of the Kingdom and Morocco could only grant the Sahrawis limited autonomy. Since April, there has been no movement in the parties' position.
Mr Baker has at several occasions demonstrated his frustration over the parties' lacking will to reach a final settlement. During his seven years as the UN's chief negotiator in Western Sahara, he repeatedly has threatened to resign if the parties would not demonstrate more flexibility. The current stubbornness of the Moroccan government, which seems to imply that the Baker Plan has no future, may have been the last straw for Mr Baker.
As this influential US politician leaves the UN's Western Sahara mediation, the conflict is set to be given less weight by the international community. Mr Baker - despite his many controversial acts - will be very hard to replace. The official UN envoy for Western Sahara, Alvaro de Soto, will take over his work, according to the French news agency AFP. Mr de Soto is known as an excellent diplomat, but he lacks Mr Baker's influence.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español