The Security Council decided yesterday, April 28, in New York, to extend for a further six months the mandate of MINURSO (the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) and reaffirmed "its will to help the parties arrive to a political just, durable and mutually acceptable solution".
The United Nations has been seeking a settlement in Western Sahara since the withdrawal of Spain in 1976 and the ensuing fighting between Morocco, which had "reintegrated" the Territory, and the Frente POLISARIO (Frente Popular para la Liberaciףn de Saguia el-Hamra y de Rםo de Oro), supported by Algeria (Mauritania renounced all claims to Western Sahara in 1979). On April 1991, the Security Council decided to establish MINURSO (resolution 690) in order to reach to a peaceful solution to the dispute.
<i>Le Matin</i> reports that the Moroccan ambassador to the UN announced that Morocco has already reiterated its will to cooperate closely with MINURSO and that Morocco hopes to find also on the other side this same will to succeed in finding, as soon as possible, a political solution to the dispute.
