In his report to the UN Security Council, the UN chief also recommended to extend the mandate of the MINURSO (French acronym for the United Nations Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara) for a further period of six months, until next October 31.
 
    The MINURSO was deployed in the Sahara in 1991 to supervise the ceasefire concluded between the two warring parties, Morocco and the Polisario separatists who, backed by Algeria, claim the independence of the former Spanish colony. Spain ceded the territory to Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accord.

     In his report, Ban Ki-moon recalled the document handed to him on Wednesday by Morocco’s Ambassador to the UN, El Mostafa Sahel entitled “Moroccan Initiative for Negotiating an Autonomy Statute for The Sahara region” containing Morocco’s proposal to grant substantial autonomy to its Southern Provinces, the Sahara.  “The Moroccan initiative is characterized as a proposal that can serve as a basis for dialogue, negotiation and compromise”, Ban Ki-moon said.

    The UN chief also recalled that his Personal Envoy Peter Van Walsum, consulted in February and March, the representatives of interested member States, including Spain, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States in New York, and briefly visited Madrid, Paris and Washington.  “He detected a general wish to find a way out of the current impasse (…)”

   Ban Ki-moon, quoting  his Personal Envoy's analysis, said that “the Security Council had consistently made it clear that it would not impose a solution to the question of Western Sahara, which had led him to the conclusion that there were only two options: either indefinite prolongation of the impasse, or negotiations without preconditions between the parties aimed at achieving a mutually acceptable political solution (…)”.

     In reaction to the UN chief’s report, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation said the North African country remains ready to work with United nations “in a framework of responsibility and commitment with a view to exploiting the new, real and positive momentum created by the Moroccan initiative which offers the best perspectives for a final, political and mutually acceptable solution to this regional dispute in the context of the United Nations.”

   The Moroccan autonomy proposal is expected to be discussed April 20 by the Security Council.