The United Nations Security Council will consider a new plan addressing the political status of Western Sahara, presented this week by Secretary General Kofi Annan. Western Sahara has been controlled by Morocco since 1975. The Polisario Front has been pushing for independence for the region since that time, waging a campaign of armed resistance up until a U.N.-brokered ceasefire in 1991. The new plan was drafted by a U.N. special envoy and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker. A main point of dispute is a referendum on independence that the Polisario has sought for years – Morocco agrees on the need for it but is accused of trying to skew the outcome by registering Moroccan voters. Close to 200,000 Sahrawi refugees live in Algeria as a result of the conflict.
