There is no better context for helping find a solution to the Sahara conflict than the Arab Maghreb Union. This issue arose because of the differences between its constituents and an accord among them would bring the solution. If this accord does not come through a historic agreement to prepare the ground for confronting the challenges of the future, then let it come through an effort to help push through a solution. Christopher Ross is the first international delegate to the Sahara conflict who deals with it with a political background that goes beyond the legal literality imposed by the relevant resolutions of the Security Council. Perhaps he benefited from the past experiences of the northern neighbors of the Maghreb zone, specifically Spain and France. He did not object to discussing the Sahara issue with the Secretary General of the Arab Maghreb Union, whether this discussion was just for the sake of talking or aimed at learning about his opinion concerning the possibility of the Union participating in pushing the concerned factions to move forward along the path of negotiations. He is aware that the Arab Maghreb Union has not heeded since it was founded in 1989 the issue of the Sahara conflict and has not included it in its agenda. Its founding leaders agreed to ignore the points of disagreement between them and to focus on the common stances to build a regional economic coalition. And yet, the unchanging facts confirm that this preliminary agreement did not prevent the different stances concerning the Sahara issue from casting a negative shadow on the path of the Union. Thus the fear that the Maghreb experience might be affected by the controversial issues has turned into a reality. This suggests that the Maghreb structure cannot survive without a solution for the desert struggle, which cannot be solved without an accord between all the Maghreb factions. There is no objection, whether in form or in essence, to any methodology chosen by the international delegate to achieve progress in his efforts. He enjoys the support of the Security Council, the UN Secretary General, and has the approval of the concerned parties. But he cannot impose an opinion or vision outside the legal and political reference of his mission, which initially aims at resuming the negotiations and reaching a final formula acceptable to all. It is not unlikely that his choice to talk to the Secretary General of the Arab Maghreb Union comes in the context of achieving a political breakthrough to revive the hopes for a strategic option that has lost its glimmer. The basis of the Arab Maghreb Union is that it was formed following a Moroccan-Algerian Accord, which coincided with the preliminary signs of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the end of the era of the ideological struggles, and the start of the rise of the market economy and globalization. What is more important is that the pact of the Union was signed by the leaders of the five Maghreb countries at a time when the Sahara conflict had not entered the maze of political settlement, regardless of the legal context. Less than one year after the signing of this agreement, a ceasefire was signed and the war ended. Morocco must be commended for opening up to the Polisario Front while Algeria must also be commended for contributing to the advancement of the political settlement. This means that a large portion of these encouraging developments resulted from the Maghreb accord. The major obstacle is not that the disagreement today focuses on the concept and formula of the political solution, but that this disagreement added to the remains of other disagreements, which hindered the effort of the Maghreb structure, so the problem became divided into two parts that are as hard to separate as they are hard to reconcile without a new historic accord. There is no harm in reviving the Maghreb consciousness through astute initiatives. There are future occasions in which the Maghreb countries will find themselves facing European demands as in the 5+5 dialogue system which concerns security issues, the issue of immigration, and terrorism. It is ironical that these countries are holding a dialogue with the Europeans while they cannot hold one among themselves. However, international delegate Ross added to these issues the Sahara issue, which he considered to be one of the most complicated regional issues. The wager now is that the Sahara conflict cannot be overcome by forgetting or ignoring it. The solution is not through hiding the dust under the carpet, but through dusting the carpet completely to clear the air.
