AU Says Western Sahara Needs Referendum Before Escalation Overturns Regional Stability

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2021) The Sahrawi people need to be able to have a referendum on self-determination before the conflict of pro-Sahrawi movement Polisario Front with Morocco destabilizes Western Sahara, Smail Chergui, the African Union's commissioner for Peace and Security, told Sputnik.

Since October, in a bid to challenge Morocco's rule, activists linked to the Polisario Front movement have been blocking the main road, which connects the Rabat-controlled territories of Western Sahara with Mauritania, stopping passenger traffic and commercial transportation of goods across the border. In response, Morocco launched an operation against the Polisario Front in the buffer zone of Guergarat in the Moroccan Sahara on November 13. The movement accused Rabat of violating the 1991 ceasefire and pledged to "resume the war."

"The most pressing issue is to uphold the Settlement Plan, which provides for a cessation of hostilities and the holding of a referendum to exercise their right to self-determination," the commissioner said.

Chergui pointed out that the current Chair of the African Union, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, appealed to the UN to appoint a special envoy to help resolve the protracted conflict.

"On December 6, 2020, the Summit of the Union has asked the Peace and Security Council to address the resumption of the war to prepare conditions for a new cease-fire. The situation, if it continues to escalate, could threaten regional stability and it is our wish that a solution is found as soon as possible," Chergui said.

The Settlement Plan refers to an agreement between Polisario Front and Morocco to observe a ceasefire and for the Sahrawi to hold a referendum on whether they want to be independent or part of Morocco. The idea for a plan was first floated in the 1980s, but the referendum has not been held yet.�