In a comment posted on "Worldpress" website, Veerland, also former U.S. ambassador in Morocco (1992-1993) stressed that "the United States must be forthright in its support for the Moroccan proposal" as it "would be aiding a modernizing, moderate Islamic country, and a strategic ally," and more urgently "it would be helping Sahara's people to regain their lost liberties and their right to peaceful existence."

   Noting that the Sahara conflict has aggravated relations between the region's countries, Vreeland underlined that King Mohammed VI "has devised a proposal for granting autonomous status to this region, and it behooves all members of the United Nations Security Council to support it."

   “Since assuming the throne seven years ago, the Moroccan king has brought about vital domestic reforms, including elevating and protecting the status of women, as well as establishing an independent commission to face up to Morocco's human rights record,” he underlined, noting that the sovereign “studied contemporary models of territorial conflict resolution to see which solutions proved viable and durable in similar situations around the world.”

   The US official also made it clear that “neighboring Algeria helped create and then lent armed support to a guerrilla group, the Polisario,” noting that this country “would gain a great deal by dominating an area with phosphate reserves and an Atlantic coastline.”

   Vreeland who deplored that tens of thousands of Sahrawis “are living in Algeria under deplorable conditions” made it clear that they are “generally unable to leave the refugee camps, communicate with the outside world or maintain their traditional nomadic way of life.”

   While Morocco has an “open door” policy towards the refugees, the Polisario has made it virtually impossible for those Sahrawis living in the camps in southern Algeria to return, he went on, stressing that “holding on to the refugees is their strategy for +governing+ these people, who exist solely on international assistance having a hold on refugees, is part of its (Polisario) strategy to govern these people who survive only thanks to the international aid."

   “Younger ones have never known life outside these bleak tented camps," the US diplomat added, noting that “it is no secret that the young people in these horrible camps are being preyed upon for recruitment by Al Qaeda and other local terrorist groups. Indeed, Algeria's most murderous terrorist group recently renamed itself Al Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb.”

   For the US diplomat, “fostering not only a final resolution for the region's refugees but also creating a stable North African peace for the first time in decades - a peace that would serve as a bulwark against Islamic extremism.”

   Noting that Morocco’s autonomy proposal “would provide effective self-determination for the Sahrawis, allowing for local decision-making and control over economic, social, linguistic and cultural issues, Veerland cited as examples several successful autonomy regions, including the Trentino-Alto Adige region in Italy, the autonomous region of Madeira in Portugal and the Catalonia and the Basque Provinces in Spain.

   Veerland also highlighted the paramount need that “the UN Security Council accept Morocco's proposal for an autonomous region and not be pushed into a debate for full Saharan independence, which is in any case unattainable in the foreseeable future. A weak independent state would rapidly morph into a terrorist-controlled state.”
Source: MAP
News and events on Western Sahara issue/ Corcas