Beguiling Morocco with his grandfatherly appearanceDelightful news out of Western Sahara, where things have been relatively lately. The new UN envoy on Western Sahara, US diplomat Christopher Ross, isn't taking up last envoy Peter Van Walsum's weak stance on self-determination.
After visiting Morocco, he went to the Polisario-controlled part of Western Sahara to read a speech to Mohammed Abdelaziz and some soldiers. He won't accept any solution that doesn't have self-determination:
After visiting Morocco, he went to the Polisario-controlled part of Western Sahara to read a speech to Mohammed Abdelaziz and some soldiers. He won't accept any solution that doesn't have self-determination:
Negotiations must tend to "a solution that includes the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination," Ross said in speech he read in Arabic to the Saharawi president-in-exile and an assembly of ministers and chiefs from the nomadic tribes that make up Western Sahara.Sweet! If he keeps up he'll earn the envoy theme song.
Alternately, this could mean nothing. Some people think self-determination includes autonomy, and he hasn't mentioned a referendum. But at least he isn't endorsing autonomy like Van Walsum.
UPDATE: Reading a comment from blogger Van Kaas makes me think it's a good sign that Ross went to a Polisario-controlled part of Western Sahara instead of the refugee camps in Tindouf.
