دبلوماسي من الصحراء الغربية يحزر الجنوبين من الوقوع في نفس خطأ التأجيل الذي وقعوا فيه.

South Sudan should not commit same mistakes as Western Sahara - Polisario diplomat
Thursday 11 November 2010.
November 10, 2010 (JUBA) – A diplomat from Western Sahara, a disputed territory between Morocco and the Polisario Front, has warned Southern Sudan not to make the same mistakes they made in their failed bid to become independent through a referendum.

In January as part of a 2005 peace deal the south was granted the right to determine whether it would remain as part of Sudan or form an independent nation.

The territory of Western Sahara has been contested by Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front since colonial power Spain withdrew in 1975.

Under a peace deal in 1991 the territory has been due to stage a referendum on self-determination from Morocco but is still to take place.

Western Sahara’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union, Sidi Omar, warned on a visit to south Sudan’s capital Juba, that any delay to the south’s referendum may result to its indefinite postponement as was the case in Western Sahara.

According to the regions Ambassador, the Polisario Front agreed to Morocco’s proposed delay in good faith but nearly two decades later the vote has still not taken place.

The referendum on the future of the west African territory was to be conducted under the supervision of the United Nations in 1992, but was later on postponed indefinitely following disagreement over who should be eligible to vote.

The main sticking point has been voter identification. The Polisario Front has insisted that only people registered in a census conducted by Spain in 1973 should be allowed to vote. While Morocco wants the 300,000 Moroccans who have settled in the region since 1975 to be accorded voting rights.

The diplomat presented the advice in a meeting on Wednesday with South Sudan’s Vice President, Riek Machar Teny. He said he came to Juba carrying a message of solidarity from the leader of the Polisario Front to the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit.

Omar expressed Polisario Front’s readiness to support the timely conduct of the referendum in Southern Sudan and accept its outcome, adding that it would establish good relations with Southern Sudan should it become independent.

The Vice President on his part assured the diplomat of his government’s commitment to conduct the referendum on time as scheduled for January 9, 2011. He said post-referendum issues and North-South demarcation will not be allowed to hold the referendum hostage because they can be completed after the referendum.

(ST)

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