UN deems Morocco as
Western Sahara's administrative power

In presenting its new peace plan for the Moroccan-occupied territory of 
Western Sahara, the United Nations for the first time has referred to 
Morocco as the "administrative power" of the territory. Earlier legal 
assessments had rejected this term, which implies Morocco may exploit 
Western Sahara's natural resources.

In his latest report on Western Sahara to the UN Security Council, 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan on several occasions referred to "the 
Government of Morocco, as the administrative power in Western Sahara". This 
is the term used by the Moroccan Government, not by the people of Western 
Sahara. Also the UN news service presents Morocco as "the territory's 
administering power" in a statement.

The UN Vice-Secretary General for Legal Affairs, Hans Corell, in a legal 
assessment made last year found that Morocco is "not considered" to be the 
administrative power of the area, which implies that Morocco under no 
circumstance has the right to act on behalf of the people of the territory 
or to exploit the territory's natural resources.

Western Sahara is officially considered a case of decolonisation by the UN 
system. This implies that the territory's original population — most of it 
confined to refugee camps in the Algerian desert since the 1970s — has the 
right to determine the future of the territory, but also is considered the 
real owner of its natural resources.

The exiled government of Western Sahara considers itself the legitimate 
administrative power of the territory, although almost all of it is under 
Moroccan occupation. Alternatively, Saharawi representative Emhamed Khadad 
told afrol News that the former colonial power Spain should be considered 
the territory's formal administrative power, as proper decolonisation never 
took place.

The naming of Morocco as Western Sahara's "administrative power" is highly 
controversial and an issue of current conflict. The international oil 
companies Total (former TotalFinaElf) and Kerr-McGee signed contracts with 
the Rabat regime to explore oil resources off Western Sahara. The legal 
basis of these contracts has been disputed due to the former UN assessment 
that Morocco is not the territory's administrative power. The same applies 
to fishing rights and the exploitation of phosphates.

The controversial terming occurs in the latest of Mr Annan's regular 
reports on Western Sahara. Here, the UN Secretary-General also presents a 
new peace plan, representing something of a "compromise", as Mr Annan calls 
it. The plan calls for Western Sahara to obtain the status of an autonomous 
Moroccan province during five years and then to hold a referendum on 
possible independence.

POLISARIO, the liberation movement and legal representative of the Saharawi 
people, earlier rejected this "new peace plan" due to the fact that the 
proposed referendum would include a majority of voters of Moroccan origin, 
introduced to the territory by the occupying power and maintained through 
large state subsidies.

The "new peace plan" would also for the first time recognise Morocco's 
claims to the territory, which has been disputed since the colonial power 
Spain withdrew in 1976.

Information released this year seriously questioned Mr Annan's objectivity 
in the Saharawi conflict as it was known that he had ordered his Personal 
Envoy James Baker III to find a solution that would integrate the territory 
into Morocco five years ago.

Mr Baker, a former US Secretary of State, has personal interests in the US 
oil industry, which again has an interest in seeing Morocco as the 
territory's administrative power. It is the same Mr Baker who usually edits 
the UN Secretary-General's reports on Western Sahara.

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afrol News