Situation in buffer area of Western Sahara remains tense, UN says

The situation in the Guerguerat area of Western Sahara, inside the Buffer Strip, remains tense, with road construction activity initiated by Morocco in the area south of the Berm being opposed by Frente Polisario, a UN spokesman said here Wednesday.

"Despite the ongoing efforts of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to de-escalate the situation with the parties, security elements from both Morocco and the Frente Polisario have maintained their positions on the road, approximately 120 meters apart from each other," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

"The UN Mission has deployed unarmed military observers into a position between the parties in an effort to maintain calm," the spokesman said.

"In parallel, we have been actively engaging at senior levels with the parties and key member states to urge restraint and identify options for an acceptable solution to the current crisis," Dujarric said. "Any resumption of hostilities, with the potential to have wider regional implications, remains of significant concern."

Western Sahara is located on the northwest coast of Africa bordered by Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria. The colonial administration of Western Sahara by Spain ended in 1976. Fighting later broke out between Morocco and the Polisario Front. A ceasefire was signed in September 1991.

MINURSO was deployed that year to monitor the ceasefire between the government of Morocco and the Polisario Front and organizing, if the parties agree, a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara.

A revised settlement plan was proposed by the United Nations after seven years of diplomatic consultations was rejected by one of the parties in 2004. In approving the current phase of direct negotiations in 2007, the UN Security Council called for "a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political settlement which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara." Enditem