Noose around Morocco tightens, voices calling for Western Sahara people's self-determination rise

he noose is tightening around Morocco, whose international isolation is more and more felt, as the African Union stressed the need for Saharawi people to fully enjoy their legitimate rights and the Security Council has just called for the resumption of negotiations between Rabat and the Polisario Front, to reach an agreement on holding a referendum on Western Sahara people's self-determination.

The UN Security Council has called Wednesday for the resumption of talks between the Polisario Front and Morocco. The Council's members unanimously stressed the necessity to relaunch the direct negotiations between the parties to the conflict to reach a political solution leading to Western Sahara people's self-determination.

The last AU summit (July 17-18), in Kigali, was an opportunity for the pan-African organization to reiterate its immutable position over the Saharawi cause, namely the holding of a referendum on Western Sahara people's self-determination.

The Security Council emphasized the imperative of the return of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to full functionality as soon as possible.

"We are ready to positively respond to the request of the UN secretary-general and his special envoy (about the resumption of negotiations), but Christopher Ross informed us about difficulties he went through to get Morocco's cooperation for the relaunch of the talks process," Western Sahara's representative at the UN, Ahmed Boukhari, said Wednesday.