ALGERIA: U.N envoy meets Algerian president.

Record ID: 574132

  • Title: ALGERIA: U.N envoy meets Algerian president.
  • Date: 7th November 2012
  • Summary: ALGIERS, ALGERIA (NOVEMBER 7, 2012) (REUTERS) ( ** BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) EXTERIOR OF DJENANE EL-MUFTI RESIDENCE WHERE MEETING TAKING PLACE THE UN AND THE ALGERIAN FLAGS ALGERIAN PRESIDENT ABDELAZIZ BOUTEFLIKA WELCOMING CHRISTOPHER ROSS, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL'S PERSONAL ENVOY FOR WESTERN SAHARA BOUTEFLIKA AND ROSS SEATED AND TALKING CLOSE OF ABDELAZIZ BOUTEFLIKA CLOSE OF CHRISTOPHER ROSS CLOSE OF THE REPUBLICAN GUARD ABDELAZIZ BOUTEFLIKA AND CHRISTOPHER ROSS COMING OUT FROM BUILDING DELEGATION MEMBERS ABDELAZIZ BOUTEFLIKA AND CHRISTOPHER ROSS SHAKING HANDS CAR LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA51QT9LO7IQLOYFOK19PP0O2QJ
  • Story Text: United Nations envoy Christopher Ross was in Algiers on Wednesday (November 7) on the latest stop of a North Africa and Europe tour aimed at finding a solution to the dispute over the Western Sahara.
    The dispute, dating back to 1975, pits Morocco, which says the Western Sahara is part of its territory, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which says it is an independent state.
    Ross arrived in Algiers after visiting Morocco and the Western Sahara - his first visit to the disputed territory since being appointed UN special envoy in January 2009.
    In Laayoune, Western Sahara's main town, Ross met with Polisario leader Mohamed Abdelaziz and visited Sahrawi refugee camps.
    His four-day visit to visit to Rabat was a low-key affair after a previously unsuccessful trip there six months ago.
    Last May Morocco said it had lost confidence in the U.N. envoy in the latest in a long series of setbacks in efforts to settle the decades-old dispute over the Western Sahara's status.
    Rabat accused envoy Christopher Ross of giving "biased and unbalanced guidance" and criticised a U.N. report, published last April, which had suggested Morocco may have been spying on the world body's monitoring force.
    Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975, sparking an armed conflict with Polisario.
    Morocco has offered limited autonomy to Western Sahara, a thinly populated region that has rich fishing waters and phosphate deposits, and may also have oil and gas reserves.
    But Polisario and its ally Algeria reject this and say they want a referendum, with independence for Western Sahara as one of the options.
    The United Nations brokered a settlement in 1991 with the understanding that a referendum would be held on the fate of the region, but the vote never took place and attempts to reach a lasting deal since then have foundered.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register