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U.N. report backpedals on Western Sahara

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 49 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS - In a rare acknowledgment the U.N. officials may have overstepped, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reissued a report Monday on the Western Sahara that eliminated controversial recommendations on the future of the disputed region.

The original report was released last month, a week after Morocco and rebels seeking independence ended their first direct talks in seven years by agreeing to meet again Aug. 10 after making no headway in resolving their 32-year dispute.

Morocco, whose occupation of the former Spanish colony in 1975 sparked a 16-year war with Polisario Front guerrillas, stuck to the autonomy plan it proposed in April that would maintain Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. The rebel movement, backed by Algeria, maintained its April demand for a referendum with a choice of autonomy or independence.

Ban's original report to the U.N. Security Council recommended the Polisario Front make concrete proposals to clarify or amend Morocco's autonomy proposal, "leaving the final status out of consideration at this stage."

At the same time, Ban said, Morocco could "show a greater awareness" that its acceptance of autonomy for the region would not be not equal — "in terms of sacrifice" — to the Polisario Front agreeing to autonomy instead of independence.

The recommendations sparked immediate concern because the Security Council on April 30 had urged that the talks be held "without preconditions in good faith."

The report was a problem for the Polisario Front because it did not mention its referendum proposal and recommended leaving the region's final status off the table. For Morocco, while the recommendations appeared to focus on autonomy, they also stressed the issue of sovereignty had to be addressed.

The revised report without the final recommendations section was issued late Monday.

Morocco and Mauritania split Western Sahara after its Spanish colonizers left the territory in 1975. Full-scale war broke out, and Morocco took over the whole territory after Mauritania pulled out in 1979.

The fighting, which pitted 15,000 Polisario guerrillas against Morocco's U.S.-equipped army, ended in 1991 with a U.N.-negotiated cease-fire that called for a referendum on the region's future. But after 15 years and the expenditure of more than $600 million, the U.N. has been unable to resolve the standoff or hold the referendum.

U.N. report backpedals on Western Sahara  (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070703/ap_on_re_af/un_western_sahara;_ylt=AlkANyfVSws3k9crTNB4BUYUewgF)