Moroccan government and Polisario Front participate in UN-led meetings

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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1. Wide of signs of Greentree Estate in Manhasset, Long Island, where the Western Sahara talks were held on August 10 and 11 2. Mid of exterior of Greentree Estate 3. Zoom-out to members of the Polisario Front delegation entering the estate, zoom-in to front of vehicle 4. Mid of personal envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Western Sahara Peter Van Walsum 5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Peter Van Walsum, personal envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Western Sahara: "They have committed to continue these negotiations in good faith, they have agreed that the process of negotiations will continue and that appropriate consultations will be completed regarding the date and venue of the coming round." 6. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Chakib Benmussa, Moroccan Interior Minister: "Yesterday and at today's meeting, Morocco once again presented an initiative for self-rule in the desert. Morocco affirmed that this initiative would be a historic and final solution. But regrettably we have noticed that the other parties are still clinging to their previous stances. We regret this but we hope that these stances will change in the next rounds of talks. We know that this will take much time." 7. Wide of media surrounding Benmussa 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Chakib Benmussa, Moroccan Interior Minister: "We just noticed that Polisario has the same position as before and he's asking of implementing previous plans that the international community just realised that they cannot be applied as they have been set, so we have an initiative which is open to negotiation and such (an) initiative could be the basis for a final solution." 9. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Khalihenna Ould Errachid, chief adviser on Western Sahara to Morocco's King Mohamed VI: ''It is certain that the past experience won't bring about a solution and we have to abandon it and adopt a compromise solution which is in fact neither a complete solution which Morocco has already called for nor a comprehensive solution which the Polisario has demanded. It is a solution in which there is no winner nor defeated, it is a self-rule. And the Moroccan project is liable for amendment, expansion and review in all its fundamental items.'' 10. Mid of reporters STORYLINE: Morocco and the Polisario Front independence group agreed to more talks on the fate of Western Sahara but did not budge on their separate demands during a second set of United Nations-led meetings that ended on Saturday, a diplomat said. Ahmed Boukhari, the Polisario's U.N. representative, also said that the U.N. introduced two "confidence-building" proposals to promote an end to the 32-year dispute over the sparsely populated region in northwest Africa, but that they were rejected by Morocco. The first, he said, involved eliminating land mines in Western Sahara and the second dealt with human rights. Boukhari characterised the two-day talks, held at the secluded Greentree Estate in Manhasset, about 25 miles (40 kilometres) east of New York City, as a repeat of round one in June, when the parties held their first direct negotiations in seven years. In the run-up to the latest talks, neither side indicated it would change its position. Morocco has proposed limited autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. The Polisario Front has demanded a referendum with a choice of autonomy or independence for the Saharawi people who live there and are now outnumbered by Moroccan settlers, two to one. Morocco's U.N. mission did not immediately return calls or an e-mail seeking comment about the confidence-building measures on Saturday. However, at a news conference Saturday evening, Moroccan Interior Minister Chakib Benmussa criticised Polisario for having "the same position as before." You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/c86c8736cce0105280712ffedaa95c4d Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork