Spain seeks "independent" account of disturbances in W. Sahara

Madrid, Agency
Spain wants to see a "clear and independent" report on the actions of Moroccan security forces while dismantling a protest camp in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said Thursday in Parliament.

Jimenez sees the existing U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, known as Minurso, as best-suited to producing such a report, foreign ministry sources told Efe.

Minurso was deployed in 1991 after Morocco and the Polisario Front - representing the native Saharawis - agreed to suspend hostilities in preparation for a referendum on the future of the former Spanish colony.

The plebiscite has yet to take place.

In her comments to lawmakers, Jimenez did not specify who should carry out the investigation into the events of last week in Western Sahara, but when questioned by reporters afterward, she mentioned Minurso, the U.N. Refugee Agency and Human Rights Watch as possibilities.

"It's necessary that the international community know the final balance of what happened to make a definitive statement, with precise and reliable data, by way of a clear and independent report," the minister told the Foreign Affairs Committee of the lower house.

The conflict in Western Sahara dates from 1975, when Morocco moved to annex the territory after Spain relinquished control, though the Polisario essentially abandoned armed struggle in the 1990s.

The latest crisis began Nov. 8, when Moroccan police and soldiers invaded the Gadaym Izik camp set up outside Laayoune, the administrative capital of Western Sahara, by more than 12,000 Saharawis protesting Rabat's rule.

Rabat says the clashes left 13 dead, all but two of them members of the Moroccan security forces.

But according to the Polisario Front, 19 Saharawis were killed and hundreds more wounded, while 159 are missing.