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| Volume XIV, Winter 2007, Number 4 |
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ABSTRACT
Time for a Solution in the Western Sahara Conflict
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| I. William Zartman |
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Dr. Zartman is Jacob Blaustein Distinguished Professor of International Organization and Conflict Resolution at the Paul H. Nitze School of the Johns Hopkins University.
The Western Saharan conflict, one of the modern world's oldest, seems to be coming to a head. If so, it will be because the leading states of the United Nations have finally taken an interest in the conflict and decided that it is against their interest to let it fester, to burst forth again at some future time when it can do great damage to their relations. It is now time to tell the concerned parties that the train to a solution is about to leave the station and they had better get on board.
The move that has made this strategy possible is the first proposal by one of the two contestants to reach middle a full autonomy offer by Morocco, the second key to a solution. Morocco's previous position called for undifferentiated integration — or retrocession — of the former Spanish colony into the Kingdom of Morocco. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saqiet al-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario), backed and hosted by Algeria, maintains its position: full independence for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), to be established through a referendum.
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