here - Center on International Cooperation - New York University

124 | Mission NotesPersonal Envoy, Western SaharaAuthorization and 19 March 1997Start Date(UNSC Pres. StatementS/PRST/1997/16)Personal Envoy Christopher Ross (US)Budget$0.7 million(1 January 2010-31 December 2010)Strength as of18 September 2009 International Civilian: 1For detailed mission information see p. 160Special Advisor, CyprusAuthorization Date 21 April 1997(UNSC Letter S/1997/320)Start Date 28 April 1997SASGAlexander Downer (Australia)Deputy SASG Tayé-Brook Zerihoun (Ethiopia)Budget$3.3 million(1 January 2010-31 December 2010)Strength as of31 March 2010 International Civilian: 12For detailed mission information see p. 1631991 to verify the cease-fire between Morocco andPOLISARIO and to organize and conduct a referendumthat would allow the people of WesternSahara to decide the future status of the territory.The referendum had originally been contemplatedfor January 1992, however, a series of efforts toreach agreement on its terms and then to seek apolitical settlement found only frustration.Disappointment with the lack of progress,as well as a sense that a political effort led fromoutside the region might have more leverage thanone conducted by the SRSGs successively headingMINURSO, brought Secretary-General KofiAnnan to institute the position of the PersonalEnvoy for Western Sahara in 1997. The status andprestige of its first incumbent, former US Secretaryof State James Baker who held the position from1997-2004, reflected the priority Annan attachedto the search for a solution to the conflict, but alsohis awareness of the obstacles that lay in its way.In 2003 Personal Envoy Baker presenteda peace plan that allowed for some elementsof governance-sharing, but also provided for areferendum that would include the option of independence.The plan was accepted by POLISARIO,at Algeria’s encouragement. But in 2004 Moroccorejected it on the grounds that it could not agree toany plan that might lead to an independent WesternSahara – a position that contravened the basisfor the UN’s involvement.Baker resigned shortly afterwards. His successor,the Dutch diplomat Peter van Walsum, wasappointed in 2006, after an interlude in whichthe political process was led from MINURSO byAlvaro de Soto, who held the position of SRSGfrom 2004 to 2005. Van Walsum pursued directand unconditional negotiations. Four increasinglyacrimonious rounds of talks were held in Manhasset,New York, in 2007 and 2008, but no progresswas made in bridging the gap between an autonomyproposal put forward by Morocco and POLISA-RIO’s insistence on a referendum that wouldinclude independence as an option. Van Walsumlost the support of POLISARIO and its backerswhen he told the Security Council that an independentWestern Sahara was not a realistic propositionso long as Morocco had control of the territory andthe Security Council was not prepared to put pressureupon it. His contract expired in August 2008.Key developmentsPersonal Envoy Ross began his tenure in early 2009by consulting with the parties, as well as representativesof the neighboring states, Algeria and Mauritania,who have traditionally assumed the role ofobservers at any talks. He traveled to the region inFebruary 2009 and began working towards holdingsmall informal meetings to prepare for a fifth roundof formal negotiations. He visited the region againin late and June and after that consulted with UNmember states that are most engaged on the issueof Western Sahara, namely France, Spain and theUnited States. With Russia and the United Kingdom,these countries form a group of Friends ofWestern Sahara that has had a leading role in drivingaction in the Security Council but that has beencomplicated by the differences between them. 1Informal talks were held between the parties– with Algeria and Mauritania in attendanceas observers – in Dürnstein, Austria on August