Autonomous region proposal for W. Sahara

"Neighboring Algeria helped create and then lent armed support to the Polisario Front, a guerrilla group that resisted Moroccan rule [in the Western Sahara].
. . . For many years there was fierce fighting, from which tens of thousands of families fled, and eventually came under the care of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Though the violence concluded with a United Nations-brokered cease-fire in 1991, the Western Sahara’s inhabitants remain caught in the unresolved conflict.
. . . After a year-long national discussion, Morocco is to propose, at the United Nations in April, a plan to establish the Western Sahara as an autonomous region under Moroccan sovereignty. Autonomy would provide effective self-determination for the Sahrawis, allowing for local decision-making and control over economic, social, linguistic and cultural issues. Successful autonomy regions like this exist elsewhere. The Trentino-Alto Adige region in Italy and the autonomous region of Madeira in Portugal are examples, as are Catalonia and the Basque Provinces in Spain. The creation of these quasi-states has unlocked longstanding disputes once thought resolvable only by force."

Op-ed by Frederick Vreeland, former U.S. ambassador to Morocco

sources
[1] Vreeland, Frederick. (The New York Times). Will Freedom Bloom in the Desert? March 3, 2007.

posted: sunday, march 4, 2007, 8:34 PM ET
update: tuesday, march 6, 2007, 11:27 PM ET

tags: morocco federalism

Moroccans recruited as Iraq suicide bombers

"About two dozen men from Tetouan [in Morocco] and nearby towns in the Rif Mountains have traveled to Iraq in the past 18 months to volunteer as fighters or suicide bombers, according to local residents and officials. Moroccan authorities said the men were recruited by international terrorist networks affiliated with al-Qaeda.
. . . Candidates are subjected to psychological assessments from a distance to determine if they are really willing to die for the cause. Background checks are run to ensure that they are not informers, officials said. Those who make the final cut are assigned to 'handlers,' who arrange the trip to Iraq.
. . . 'The recruiters for al-Qaeda are some of the most important players right now in that organization,' [terrorism expert Nick] Pratt said. 'They have a profile, and they know what they're looking for.'
. . . [Parliament member Mustapha Khalfi said] as long as the U.S. military remains in Iraq, many Moroccans will feel duty-bound to help the resistance.
'There's a long tradition in the Muslim world of solidarity against occupation,' he said.

source
Whitlock, Craig. (The Washington Post). Terrorist Networks Lure Young Moroccans to War in Far-Off Iraq. February 20, 2007.

posted: wednesday, february 21, 2007, 6:54 PM ET
update: wednesday, february 21, 2007, 6:55 PM ET

tags: iraq suicide bomber al qaeda morocco