Unending endgame

Imagination and innovation are needed if a new war is to be prevented

Postponing rather than hoping to solve the Western Sahara problem, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has extended yet again the life of the UN Mission to the Western Sahara (Minurso), the UN team that (for around US$4.3 million a month) supervises the territory's endless crises. Winding-up was due on 30 April, and Annan has given it two more months. The Polisario Front, ruling its miserable camps across the Algerian border, tries to attract attention and rally its supporters with talk of renewed war. But the odds are ever more clearly on a solution acceptable to, if not liked by, Morocco.

Article Tags:
Kofi Annan, Algerian, Spain, James Baker III, United States, Driss Basri, William Eagleton, Mohamed Benaissa, Jordanian, No third way for Abdelaziz, Mohammed Abdelaziz, Cuba, Mauritania, Mohamed Cherif Abbas, Mohammed Lamari, Mohamed, Hassan II, Abderrahmane El Youssoufi, Germany, France, Hassan Abouyoub, India, George W. Bush, Margaret Tutwiler, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Ould Taya, Addoustour, Moudjahidine, Jane's Intelligence Review, Länder, République Arabe Sahrouie Democratique

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