부산대학교 도서관

The article reports on the disputed Western Sahara territory and United Nations Ambassador from the United States John Bolton. The Polisario Front, an armed nationalist movement, has sought to turn Western Sahara into an independent state for its largely nomadic people. Morocco has occupied the territory despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice at The Hague that the Sahrawis had a right to self-determination. In 1991, the UN brokered a ceasefire that called for a referendum on self-determination, but political wrangling has prevented it from happening. In May, a series of demonstrations in the capital, Laayoune, and elsewhere in Western Sahara and Morocco degenerated into violence and led to the arrests of many Sahrawis and long prison sentences for dozens of them. Since then, there have been hunger strikes, more protests and more people arrested, including Ali Salem Tamek, a leading dissident. Morocco and Polisario doggedly stick to their apparently irreconcilable positions. The Moroccans rule out a referendum, but say they are willing to explore some kind of limited autonomy for Western Sahara. "A federal system would be a wise solution," says Hamid Chabar, Morocco's proconsul. But for Polisario only a vote on full independence will do. The UN, still promoting its referendum plan, is again getting involved. However, Bolton, who spent three years working with former secretary of state James Baker on his plan for a referendum in the late 1990s and knows the issue well, has already expressed frustration over the stalemate caused by Morocco's unwillingness to have a referendum.