CIAO DATE: 06/2010
April 2010
United States Institute of Peace
The ongoing effort to use negotiations without preconditions to resolve the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front over Western Sahara has not produced results. The April 6, 2010 report of the United Nations secretary-general to the U.N. Security Council admits that there has been no movement on the core substantive issues. The informal talks between the government of Morocco and the Polisario Front organized by Christopher Ross, current personal envoy to the U.N. secretary-general, from February 10–11, 2010, resulted at an impasse. Neither Morocco nor the Polisaro Front is prepared to accept the other’s proposal as the sole basis for future negotiations. Barring pressure from their Western allies, nothing in their relations, in the region or international environment is likely to occur to change this in the foreseeable future.
Resource link: Western Sahara: The Failure of "Negotiations without Preconditions" [PDF] - 221K