Road accident deaths drop by 50% in Saudi Arabia    SR 3.95 million fines for 3 employees of a company and 6-month jail for one for violating Capital Market Law    Qassim emir launches 52 health projects costing a total of SR456 million    BD and INS partner to elevate standards of infusion care in MENAT    Dubai Design Week launches its 10th edition, celebrating creativity and innovation    GASTAT: Passengers of public transport bus and train soar 176% and 33% respectively in 2023    Fakeeh Care Group reports 9M-2024 net profit of SR195.3 million, up 49% y-o-y driven by solid revenue growth and robust profitability    Italy's 'Libra' to arrive in Albania with just eight migrants on board    South Africa shuts border crossing with Mozambique over poll unrest    French families sue TikTok over harmful content that allegedly led to suicides    Harris tells supporters 'never give up' and urges peaceful transfer of power    HRT does not impact life expectancy — UK health body    Liam Payne's body to be flown back to the UK    Suspect arrested for banking fraud totaling SR493 million as Nazaha pursues corruption charges    Arab leaders and heads of state congratulate US President-elect Donald Trump    Neymar suffers muscle tear, out for 4-6 weeks    Crown Prince hails Saudi medical team that performed world's first fully robotic heart transplant    Al Nassr secures 5-1 victory over Al Ain to edge closer to knockout stage    Al Ahli extends perfect start with 5-1 victory over Al Shorta    Mitrovic's hat-trick leads Al Hilal to 3-0 victory over Esteghlal    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Muted Eid celebrations for millions of Nigerian Muslims    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Western Sahara Negotiations Sound the Alarm
Published in AL HAYAT on 06 - 02 - 2010

The negotiations in New York over the Western Sahara next week will not be like those that preceded them, yet they may not be different from the latter in terms of maintaining an atmosphere of caution, in light of the absence of a mutual will to go far towards a permanent solution that would be acceptable to all parties.
As for the difference with former negotiations, it resides in the fact that the different parties have exhausted all the assets they had held in both diplomatic and on-the-field confrontations. And while some voices in the Polisario have risen, demanding a return to taking up weapons, Rabat has pulled out the card of the extended system it has ratified implementing in all of the country's provinces, and most prominently in the Western Sahara provinces, regardless of the outcome of negotiations. Additionally, the distance between the autonomy initiative and the possibility of returning to the referendum plan has increased further, and the UN Security Council and influential capitals now favor a political solution, without neglecting the reference of self-determination, over which views, notions and considerations on the field differ. Furthermore, it will not be useful for any party to merely duplicate ready-made stances, if the latter are not coupled with complete and unconditional cooperation in seeking a sound permanent settlement. Such a settlement should be centered around an acceptable solution, one that would have realistic references and perspectives, especially that the Security Council resolutions concerned have placed a ceiling of “realism”, as a balanced margin to move on to third speed.
In this sense, the negotiations in the suburbs of New York will not be an extension of the reduced meeting hosted by Vienna in the summer of last year. Indeed, the incentives that drove UN Envoy Christopher Ross to choose this method, aimed at overcoming psychological and political obstacles, have resulted in raising the height of these obstacles as a matter of fact. The flaw here does not reside in Ross's brilliant method for drawing parties to the negotiations table, but rather in getting closer to the more shady areas of determining stances. And perhaps what Ross had feared the most was for all of the parties to feel that heading to the negotiations would require a greater extent of flexibility, supervision and commitment to the decisions of international legitimacy. Indeed, there is no other way to end the tension but to enter into core negotiations.
As for the fact that such negotiations will bring no new added value, it is due to the fact that none of the parties have changed their stances, and that they all still believe that the element of time might impose its influence at some point in time, specifically when the objective circumstances to resolving the conflict will have matured. Perhaps the long period of coexistence with tension that can be controlled has cemented convictions that, if the battle is being managed diplomatically through United Nations channels, the lebensraum that would be able to provoke a qualitative shift in stances is connected to the situation on the battlefield, even if not necessarily in the space of the Sahrawi issue, extending between Tindouf and the territories under Morocco's control, through regional changes that would draw the Maghreb region in its entirety to the necessities of reaching a settlement.
It is no coincidence that arousing the issue of human rights has this time taken the forefront. Indeed, at a time when some parties have considered that there was no way to embarrass Morocco but by pointing to the human rights situation, Rabat found no alternative but to put forth the humanitarian situation in the Tindouf camps, which from its point of view reinforces the accompanying human rights circumstances on the other side. Yet what is certain is that the way the United Nations is dealing with the issue is kept in check by Security Council resolutions, even if there is nothing left of these resolutions but the maintaining of the ceasefire after the collapse of the referendum plan.
Noteworthy in the instruments of the conflict is the fact that it has moved into the space of human rights and strategy to an equal extent. And it was no coincidence that international preoccupations with the repercussions of the conflict have stopped at the dangers that now threaten security and stability in the neighborhood of the Western Sahara, specifically in the southern coastal region of the Western Sahara. This means that the strategic concern nearly summed up by the ongoing war against terrorism and security breaches has become a part of precedents that impose themselves to urge the parties involved in the Western Sahara conflict to quicken the pace of resolving it.
The most important conclusion in this respect does not reside in the contradiction between stances towards the content and reference of the political solution being sponsored by the United Nations. Rather, it is shaped by an international will to frankly point to the dangers threatening the region as a result of the growth of terrorist threats and the absence of stability. This factor, which has become a new one in the issue of the Western Sahara, should negate the state of coexistence on which the parties concerned have relied over long decades.
The negotiations in New York this time sound the alarm towards not maintaining the current situation, whether at the humanitarian level or within the framework of limiting potential losses due to the continuing tension. And if the engagement of the parties concerned is coupled with certain degrees of international commitment and of the extent of complete cooperation with the efforts of the United Nations, the issue that cannot wait any longer lies in the possibilities of losing control of the neighborhood of the Western Sahara, which requires for all the parties to follow the lead of their scout, Christopher Ross, whom the Western Sahara crisis has turned into a guide, amidst moving sand dunes that could obscure the road ahead.


Clic here to read the story from its source.