Polisario says UN resolution on Sahara 'not bad'

Algiers (AFP) - The Algeria-backed Polisario Front on Thursday gave a guarded welcome to a UN Security Council resolution on the Moroccan-annexed disputed territory of Western Sahara for which it claims independence.

"If the resolution had expanded the mandate of the United Nations Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to monitoring the human rights of Sahrawis, we would have described it as excellent," said Abdelkader Taleb Omar, premier of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic declared by the Polisario.

"Sahrawis had hoped MINURSO would be tasked, like other UN missions, with monitoring human rights but that does not mean that the resolution is bad," he said.

Rabat, in contrast, has given a warm welcome to the resolution passed on Tuesday, saying it would advance the political process and had vindicated Morocco's position.

The North African territory is controlled by Morocco and claimed by Polisario Front separatists.

Rights groups had pressed the United Nations to task MINURSO peacekeepers with human rights monitoring -- a move fiercely opposed by Morocco.

The Security Council extended the mission's mandate, which began in 1991 and was due to expire at the end of the month, for a year without changes.

The resolution instead encourages the parties "to continue in their respective efforts to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugee camps."

It also called on the parties to "cooperate fully" with MINURSO operations and to continue to negotiate on the region's status without conditions.

Unlike last year, the measure did not involve diplomatic arm wrestling between Rabat and Washington, which had backed a rights monitoring component.

But Morocco's King Mohammed VII did intervene with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Moroccan ambassador to the United Nations was replaced during negotiations on the resolution.

MINURSO is mainly charged with monitoring a ceasefire in the former Spanish colony.

Rabat has proposed autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty for the vast region, which has fewer than one million inhabitants, while Polisario wants a referendum on the territory's status.