UNITED NATIONS—The U.N. Security Council called on Morocco and Western Sahara's independence movement Monday to start U.N.-sponsored talks over the territory and diplomats said both sides had accepted the call.
The council urged direct talks between Rabat and the Polisario movement to resolve the three-decade-old dispute over the former Spanish colony in a resolution that also renewed the mandate of the small U.N. peacekeeping force in the territory.
"We want negotiations to start unconditionally and I am happy that all sides have agreed to do that," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters, though he said the parties had accepted the resolution "reluctantly."
The call by the council followed the submission to the United Nations by both Morocco and the Algeria-based Polisario of rival plans for the future of Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco after Spain pulled out in 1975.
Morocco wants talks about self-rule for the territory under Moroccan sovereignty, but Polisario has demanded a referendum for its citizens that would include the option of full independence.
Polisario officials said they accepted the resolution despite describing its text as unbalanced. The resolution hails Morocco's "serious and credible" efforts to end the long crisis while merely "taking note of" Polisario's proposals.
