Moroccan and Polisario delegations have met near Vienna on Monday and Tuesday and agreed to continue their negotiations to find a final settlement for the Western Sahara. United Nations mediator Christopher Ross is to arrange another round of talks soon.

According to Reuters, Ross has remarked that "the discussions took place in an atmosphere of serious engagement, frankness, and mutual respect". UN mediator added that parties have expressed their commitment to hold another meeting "as soon as possible", and that a date will be arranged soon. The statement written by Ross gave no more details of the talks.

Mohamed Khadad, member of the Sahrawi delegation, has said in an article published in The Guardian English newspaper that "the people of Western Sahara remain committed to the self-determination process initiated by the UN nearly 50 years ago, and have backed ever since via various resolutions and statements", and that his country is ready to "co-operate in economic and security matters" with Morocco, "as any decent neighbour would be expected to do".

"Regionalisation" plans

However, Moroccans stand against independence of Western Sahara. Alaouite king Mohamed VI announced by the end of July that Morocco will unilaterally implement a regionalisation of the country starting off in the so called "southern provinces". Ever since 2007, Morocco has stood for autonomy for the southern provinces, namely the Western Sahara.

The Moroccan initiative had been welcomed by the US during Bush's presidency, but Obama's arrival to the With House has caused the commitment of Washington with the Moroccan plan to cool.

Further information:

• El País: Rabat y el Polisario reanudan el diálogo sobre el Sáhara
• Liberté: Réunion informelle Marocains-Polisario à Vienne
• Nationalia: Right to self-determination for Sahrawi recognized by new UN special envoy