Paris, January 19, 2012
Paris, January 19, 2012
France has reiterated its support for the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco, calling it a “breakthrough” and an “appropriate basis for negotiations” to settle the dispute over the Sahara through the only path of political dialogue.
“The autonomy plan proposed by Morocco to the Security Council in April 2007 was a breakthrough. It preserves the right to self-determination by providing for the consultation of the population of the territories at the end of negotiations, and offers an appropriate basis for negotiations to resolve the conflict,” said the French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé in his written response to a French deputy.
For France, “only political dialogue can help to achieve a realistic, just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution,” to the Sahara issue, which is “an obstacle to the construction of a stable, integrated and prosperous Maghreb,” he added in the text released Wednesday.
As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, France will continue “to support the efforts of negotiations and informal talks” under the aegis of the United Nations.
But according to the results, France “regrets that the prospects for conflict resolution have not so far become a reality,” despite four rounds of negotiations in Manhasset (near New York), from June 2007 to March 2008 and eight sessions of informal talks, the last was held from July 19 to 21, 2011 in the same U.S. city.
At a time when a 9th round of informal talks is scheduled for February in Manhasset, Paris wanted to renew its support to the action of the personal envoy of U.N. Secretary-General for the Sahara, Christopher Ross, who supervises the meetings between the parties.
Pending resolution of the conflict, the situation in the Tindouf camps in Algeria is a “source of concern for France.” Paris also asks that the human rights situation “must be improved” and the conduct of the census of the camps’ population, added the text.
