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Western Sahara: UN funding concerns - timeline

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    • June 2007.  Representatives of the pro-independence Polisario Front, Morocco, Algeria, and Mauritania hold a first round of "proximity talks" on the future of Western Sahara.
    • April 2007.  The UN Security Council on April 30 adopts Resolution 1754 (2007) extending the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until Oct. 31.
    • October 2006.  The UN Security Council on Oct. 31 adopts Resolution 1720 (2006) extending the mandate of MINURSO until April 30.  
    • April 2006.  The UN Security Council on April 28 adopts Resolution 1675 (2006) extending the mandate of MINURSO until Oct. 31.
    • October 2005.  The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1634 (2005) extending the mandate of MINURSO until April 30, 2006.  The resolution notes the Polisario Front's release on Aug. 18 of the last 404 Moroccan prisoners of war (POWs).
    • August  2005.  On July 29 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appoints the Netherlands diplomat Peter Van Walsum as his new personal envoy for Western Sahara.
    • June 2005.  Sahrawis living under Moroccan rule in Western Sahara and southern Morocco begin demonstrations and rioting in late May and early June, complaining against the transfer of a Sahrawi prisoner in Laayoune (the commercial capital of Western Sahara) to the city of Agadir in Morocco.
    • May 2005.  The seventh summit of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) is postponed after King Mohammed VI of Morocco announces that he will not attend due to Algeria's recent "surprising stances" regarding supporting the Polisario Front.
    • April 2005.  The UN Security Council on April 28 adopts Resolution 1598 (2005) extending the mandate of MINURSO until Oct. 31.  The resolution also urges the Polisario Front to release without further delay all remaining POWs.
    • October 2004.  The UN Security Council on Oct. 28 unanimously adopts Resolution 1570 (2004) extending the mandate of MINURSO until April 30, 2005.
    • September 2004.  South Africa announces on Sept. 15 that it recognises the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), thereby raising to 60 the number of countries recognising a putative independent state in Western Sahara.
    • June 2004.  On June 13 former US Secretary of State James Baker resigns as Secretary-General Annan's personal envoy for the Western Sahara.  Baker had held the post since March 1997.  On June 15 Annan appoints Peruvian diplomat Alvaro de Soto as his new personal envoy.  It is reported that Polisario has released 100 Moroccan POWs who had been captured between 1975 and 1991.
    • April 2004.  The UN Security Council on April 29 unanimously adopts Resolution 1541 (2004) extending the mandate of MINURSO until Oct. 31.  
    • February 2004.  The pro-independence Polisario Front releases 100 Moroccan POWs who had been captured between 1975 and 1991.  Qatar provides mediation leading to the release, as well as an aeroplane to fly the POWs from Polisario's base in Tindouf, in south-eastern Algeria, to a military base near the Moroccan coastal resort of Agadir.
    • January 2004.  The UN Security Council on Jan. 30 unanimously adopts Resolution 1523 (2004), extending the mandate of MINURSO until April 30.
    • October 2003. The UN Security Council on Oct. 28 unanimously adopts Resolution 1513 (2003), extending the mandate of MINURSO until Jan. 31, 2004.
    • September 2003.  The pro-independence Polisario Front on Sept. 2 releases 243 Moroccan POWs, many of whom have spent more than 25 years in captivity.
    • August 2003.  Annan appoints Alvaro de Soto of Peru as his new special representative for the Western Sahara.  On Aug. 16 the Polisario Front announces that it is to free 243 Moroccan prisoners of war POWs.  In a communiqué carried by the Algérie Presse Service (APS) news agency, Polisario says that it made the decision after the UN Security Council approved a new peace deal in late July.
    • July 2003.  The UN Security Council on July 31 adopts Resolution 1495 (2003), which lends its official support to a peace plan for the Western Sahara drawn up by the UN Secretary-General's personal envoy  James Baker.
    • December 1991.  Controversy over who is entitled to vote in the referendum results in its postponement, with Morocco appearing to have retracted its previous acceptance of the 1974 census as a basis for the referendum.  The press reports that UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar yielded to Moroccan arguments for a broadening of the criteria for inclusion on the list of voters.  Over 37,000 Moroccan citizens are reported have entered the territory from Morocco since September.
    • September 1991.  A ceasefire comes into effect as planned on Sept. 6, despite accusations and counter-accusations by the Polisario Front and the Moroccan government about renewed military activity in the area.  
    • August 1991.  A 21-month lull in fighting between Morocco and the Polisario guerrillas disintegrates as terms for a ceasefire are being finalised, resulting in King Hassan of Morocco calling on the UN to delay the referendum by four months.
    • April 1991.  On April 22 Pérez de Cuéllar presents a report containing the details of the agreed ceasefire and referendum.   The UN timetable envisages that a ceasefire could be arranged within 16 weeks and the referendum is scheduled to be held by January 1992.
    • July 1990.  UN-supervised talks take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 9 on arrangements for holding a referendum to resolve the 14-year-long dispute between Morocco and the Polisario guerrillas over the control of the Western Sahara.
    • January 1989.  King Hassan of Morocco holds talks with senior Polisario officials in Marrakech (Morocco) on Jan. 4- 5, 1989.  Moroccan officials subsequently describe the meeting as "contact" but not "negotiations".  It is the first publicly acknowledged meeting between the two sides since the proclamation of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) by Polisario in February 1976.  
    • July 1981.  An attempt by military rebels to overthrow the government of Mauritania in March 1981 with the apparent collusion of Morocco reflects the latter country's increasing concern that Mauritania is allowing Polisario Front guerrillas to launch attacks from its territory against the Moroccan armed forces in Western Sahara.
    • November 1980.  Hakim Brahim, "foreign minister" of the SADR, submits an application for membership of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).  The Moroccan government reportedly threatens to leave the OAU if the SADR is admitted, and also asserts that the SADR does not fulfil the criteria for membership as it is not an independent sovereign state.  
    • December 1979.  The OAU ad hoc "committee of wise men" set up in 1978 to seek a settlement of the Western Sahara question, adopts a resolution recommending the immediate implementation of a ceasefire and the recognition of the rights of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination by means of a referendum.
    • September 1979.  The government of Mauritania enters into peace talks with the Polisario Front  during the latter part of 1978 and in September 1979 Polisario decides to indefinitely extend the ceasefire which it had unilaterally declared in the Mauritanian sector of Western Sahara on July 12 and concentrate its hostilities against Moroccan troops in the northern sector of the territory.
    • August 1979.  Following a change of government in Mauritania at the end of May, the new regime on Aug. 5 concludes a peace agreement with the Polisario Front and withdraws from the southern sector of Western Sahara (known as Tiris El Gharbia) which it had occupied since the withdrawal of Spain in February 1976.  
    • January 1979.  Col Ould Salek, leader of the Mauritanian government, confirms on Jan. 1, 1979, that Mauritania will take all necessary measures to extricate itself from the conflict.  Salek announces that Mauritania supports "the right to self-determination of all peoples" and would "continue to speak of peace with an open mind, ready to listen to any proposals which would end this fratricidal conflict".
    • April 1977.  Ghalihenna Ould Rashid, the former secretary-general of the Sahrawi National Union Party (PUNS)--one of the autonomist movements in the former Spanish Sahara--is appointed Secretary of State to the Prime Minister of Morocco.  Rashid becomes the first Saharan to join the Moroccan government.  
    • May 1976.  The Spanish presence in Western (formerly Spanish) Sahara comes to an end two days before the date laid down in the Madrid agreement signed in November 1975.  Although this agreement provides for the transfer of power to the Moroccan and Mauritanian governments, the Algerian-backed Popular Front for the Polisario proclaims the SADR in the territory and shortly afterwards forms a government.
    • November 1975.  The "Madrid Accords" are signed by Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania.  The tripartite agreement states that power in the region is to be transferred to Morocco and Mauritania by Feb. 28, 1976.  Morocco quickly consolidates control over most of the territory by occupying the main towns of Spanish Sahara, including El Aaiun (the capital, now known as Laayoune).
    • October 1975.  The ICJ on Oct. 16 proclaims that neither the Kingdom of Morocco, nor the Mauritanian entity have a case to claim territorial sovereignty over the region.  "Western Sahara" becomes the UN's official name for the region.
    • September 1974.  It is announced in Madrid that a referendum to determine the future status of Spanish Sahara would be held in the territory in the first half of 1975 "under the auspices and guarantees of the UN".  
    • May 1973.  The newly formed Polisario holds its constituent congress and undertakes its first guerrilla action.
    • December 1965.  The UN General Assembly adopts a resolution calling on Spain to take steps towards the decolonisation of Ifni and Spanish Sahara.  .
    • November 1957.  Large-scale fighting commences between Spanish troops and Moroccan irregulars over the Spanish Saharan territories of Rio de Oro, Saguia el–Hamra, and Spanish Southern Morocco.  
    • June 1957.  Si Allal El Fassi, leader of the Moroccan Istiqlal Party demands that Algeria, the Mauritanian area of French West Africa, and the Spanish Sahara become incorporated into Morocco.
    • November 1884.   Spain seizes control of Western Sahara at the Berlin Conference, at which the European powers meet to agree upon the colonisation of Africa.  The regions of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro become the Spanish Sahara.

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