UN envoy to convene talks on disputed Western Sahara

The Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, will convene another round of face-to-face negotiations between the parties - Morocco and the Polisario Front - "only when prospects for progress in solving the stalemate improve." In a statement to the press following Ross' briefing to the Security Council on the latest round of mediation between the parties, Council President, Azerbeijan, said Ross presented the main outcomes of his trip to the region October 7-25. The strip's objective, he explained, was "to launch new phase in the negotiations based on discreet bilateral exchanges between the Envoy and each one of the parties separately, as agreed with the parties to the conflict, Morocco and the Frente Polisario, and the neighboring States, Algeria and Mauritania." The President added in his statement that Ross "intends to return to the region in the coming weeks to pursue this new approach." The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber, also addressed the Council to report on the UN Mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO)'s continued monitoring of the ceasefire and its support for humanitarian programs and demining activities. He also briefed on the latest developments in Western Sahara and in the refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria. A UN-sponsored referendum on the fate of the former Spanish colony has been put off many time for decades, mainly because there was no agreement on who is eligible to participate.