HC Deb 07 November 2002 vol 392 cc637-8W
Albert Owen

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government's policy is on the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination; and what steps it is taking to ensure Morocco does not obstruct the United Nations Security Council Resolutions. [79521]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

[holding answer 5 November 2002]: The British Government support a just and durable outcome to the Western Sahara dispute. We support the position of the Secretary General and his Personal Envoy, James Baker, to find a just and lasting solution to the situation in Western Sahara. The United Nations Secretary General noted in his report to the Security Council on Western Sahara on 19 February 2002 that Despite their assertions to the contrary, the parties have not been willing to fully cooperate with the United Nations either to implement the settlement plan or to negotiate a political solution that will bring about an early, durable and agreed resolution of their dispute over Western Sahara".

On this basis we have called on both parties to the dispute—Morocco, the Polisario Front and Algeria—to show flexibility in the search for a long term solution, which at this point seems stalled by their mutually exclusive objectives.