The latest report of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in the third week of February on the situation in Western Sahara, paints a pessimistic scenario for the long-suffering Sahrawis. The impression gaining ground is that the UN is trying to sidetrack the referendum mechanism and instead find another way out. Significantly, the Secretary General report did not highlight the biggest achievement of Minurso so far - that of identifying over 86.000 Sahrawis eligible to vote in the referendum. The UN and the International community were very firm on the issue of the referendum in East Timor. Both Western Sahara and East Timor have similar histories, both having been occupied by outside powers in 1975.
Observers feel that double standards are at play.
While the Indonesian Government was virtually arm-twisted into meeting the aspirations of the Timorese people, the Moroccan Government is virtually being pampered by some important members of the international community, despite Morocco riding roughshod over human rights. A few months ago, Saharawis freedom fighters were brutally put down by Moroccan authorities. Hundreds of thousands of Saharawis have been languishing in desert camps since 1975. Although on February 29 the Security Council extended Minurso's mandate till the end of May 2000 and instructed Backer to find ways to bring about a solution to the conflict speedily, there is a growing suspicion among the diplomatic community that the Security Council wants to put the referendum issue on the back-burner and force solutions that are unacceptable to the Sahrawis. According to sources, France has been actively trying in recent months to influence the course of events in Western Sahara.