While both camps have stopped at a stalemate, Morocco and the Polisario Front will try again to talk in March to resolve a dispute for control of Western Sahara. The dispute has been going on for thirty-two years.
This was the third round of talks between the groups since last year, according to Peter van Walsum, the UN mediator. The United Nations Security Council had stated that there should be no preconditions to the negotiations between both sides.
“During the two days of discussions, the parties continued to express strong differences on the fundamental questions at stake,” Val Walsum had said.
The conflict in Western Sahara has brought attention to the Western nations. They have been pressuring North African nations to contain the growing violence that was linked with Al-Qaeda and Islamic extremists.
After 1975, Morocco took control of Western Sahara after Spain withdrew. However, the Polisario Front wants control of a desert area in Western Sahara that is rich in phosphate, along with other resources.
While a ceasefire was brokered in 1991 by the UN, the Algerian-backed Polisario guerillas have threatened to continue fighting because Morocco did not hold a promised referendum on independent for the Saharawis in the region.
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