UN urges revival of negotiations on disputed Western Sahara

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council called for a revival of U.N-led negotiations on the disputed Western Sahara in a resolution adopted Thursday that expressed “deep concern” at the breakdown of the 1991 cease-fire between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front whose decades-old dispute shows no sign of ending. The vote was 13-0 with Russia and Kenya abstaining. Morocco has proposed wide-ranging autonomy for Western Sahara. But the Polisario Front insists the local population, which it estimates at 350,000 to 500,000, has the right to a referendum. The U.S.-drafted resolution extends the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission charged with carrying out the referendum until Oct. 31, 2023.