| | The last six months have seen significant developments in negotiations to bring about a resolution of the long war in the Western Sahara (see link below). The formal acceptance at the end of August last year by both the Moroccan government and the Polisario Front of UN proposals for a cease fire and a subsequent referendum in the Western Sahara on the future status of the territory was followed by an intensification of diplomatic activity and by increasing pressure on both parties of the conflict to move towards an agreed basis for a settlement. |