THE WISE KING'S MAGIC FORMULA HAS PREVAILED

THE WISE YOUNG KING'S MAGIC

FORMULA HAS PREVAILED

THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL RECOGNIZES AND WELCOMES

SERIOUS AND CREDIBLE MOROCCAN EFFORTS TO MOVE

THE PROCESS FORWARD TOWARDS RESOLUTION

TAOUFIQ

GAZOULIT

JOURNALIST /

RESEARCHER

On Wednesday, April 11, 2007 the Moroccan government submitted its

proposal for a substantial autonomy for the Western Sahara region to

the newly nominated secretary general of the United Nations

organization, taking the first step, which the international community

has called for repeatedly, toward a political direct dialogue with the

parties concerned i.e. Algeria and the Polisario front.

The conflict between the Kingdom of Morocco, and the Algerian-backed

polisario front, dates back more than three decades. From 1975 until

an UN-brokered cease-fire agreement in 1991.

The terms of 1991 cease-fire agreement were not fully met until august

2005, when the polisario, under pressure from the international

community released the over 400Moroccan prisoners of war.

Since war brought about no solution, the UN tried to organize a

referendum based upon identification. Nevertheless The UN became aware

of the fact that referendum is in practical terms impossible to carry

out since sahraouis do not live only in Morocco, but also in Algeria,

Mauritania, and Mali. This means simply that there should be a change

of these countries borders, in order to organize a just and fair

referendum, since the countries concerned would totally reject the

idea, the general secretary of the UN confirmed that the organization

of such referendum is impossible politically and technically.

Recognizing this deadlock, the UN shifted its approach to encouraging

direct negotiations between Morocco and the polisario.

Even if the idea of autonomy is not new, The Moroccan Proposal for

substantial Autonomy is the first, and the only practical proposed

framework for a political solution submitted to the UN, and from it

the two sides can craft a final agreement. IT preserves Moroccan

sovereignty, but gives the Western Sahara sufficient autonomy to

become effectively self-governing.

The project consists of giving Western Sahara a substantial autonomy

within Moroccan sovereignty. According to the substantial autonomy

proposal sahraouis will have an elected regional parliament, with

power over local policies in terms of management, and decisions, and

president of a local government, the right to create local laws, as

long as they do not contradict Morocco's constitution, regional

judiciary to rule regarding local laws, and control of local police,

schools, economy, infrastructure, taxation and housing. The Kingdom of

Morocco would control external defence and foreign relations, national

judiciary, religious affairs, with King Mohamed VI as the highest

religious authority.

IT is in the same context that the royal advisory council for Saharan

affairs, commonly known by its French acronym CORCAS, was created by

the King of Morocco in march 2006, by defining its role to "foster the

culture of dialogue, and thus pave the way for our citizens to help in

this process and make practical proposals on matters pertaining to our

country's territorial integrity" (speech of 25th march delivered by

the Moroccan monarch)

This culture of dialogue is the king's innovative to seek solutions to

significant issues facing Morocco. In 2004, Morocco's truth and

reconciliation commission was created to investigate past human rights

violations and propose political and judicial reforms which were

approved by the King. CORCAS was another example of the King

innovative approach to make use of dialogue to find solutions to

complex, social and economic issues .It is worth mentioning that

CORCAS is composed of 140 members (among them 14 women),they represent

an ethnic, political , and tribal section of the Moroccan society.

Most of CORCAS's members are representatives from all sahraoui tribes,

including the father of the Polisario leader Mohamed Abdelaziz

CORCAS's main task is to seek an input from all parties concerned, and

affected by the 31 year old dispute in order to follow the right way

towards a substantial autonomy for the Western Sahara. In this context

the polisario movement ( long before the submission of both proposals

to the UN by Morocco and Polisario ), was invited to take part of a

constructive dialogue between sahraouis in charge of the Polisario,

and those in charge of CORCAS, .up to now the polisario leader is

refusing.

MOROCCO AND WESTERN SAHARA

IT is known to everybody that historically speaking Western Sahara

was always an integral part of the kingdom of Morocco, until 1884 when

the Spanish started invading the area, and by 1912 Morocco was

colonized by two major European powers: France and Spain

The process of decolonization of Moroccan territories which were

occupied by Spain took place through negotiations. In this respect,

Morocco regained the north zone in April 1956, Tarfaya and Tan Tan in

1958, Sidi ifni in1969, and the Sahara in 1975 .Therefore the UN does

not consider the Sahara issue as a colonization affair , but as a

political conflict, particularly that the international court of

justice decided that Western Sahara was not a TERRA NULLIUS. Its

population, although consisting mainly of nomads, was organized in

tribes under the authority of the elected sheikhs. It found that legal

ties of allegiance between the Sultan of Morocco and the tribes living

in the territory of Western Sahara existed and this legal situation

was recognized not only by the sultan and the population concerned,

but also by the international community. (See international court of

justice / advisory opinion 16/10/1975)

The Kingdom of Morocco has regained Sahara in accordance with the

treaty signed with the occupier, Spain, the 1975 treaty marked the end

of a continued struggle that lasted over a century .the treaty in

question created tension in the northwest of Africa. The Algerians

blamed Morocco for not recognising that the sahraouis had the right to

make their own decisions. What the Algerians did not appear to realize

was that the entire Moroccan population, including sahraouis, had been

fighting for the return of the Sahara since 1884, when Spain laid

claim to the area, and since gaining the incomplete independence in

1956; Morocco had continued the fight for unity and territorial

integrity.

It is not by chance that the general assembly resolutions adopted in

1965, and1968 confirming the right to self -determination refer not

only to the population of IFNI, but also to that of western

sahara.Resolution1514 considered to be the charter of decolonisation,

states in paragraph6 that: "any attempt to destroy partially or wholly

the national unity territorial integrity of a country are incompatible

with the aims and ideas of the UN charter