U.S. President Barack Obama has "distanced himself" from the "autonomy" plan that Morocco wants to impose as a solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, Spanish daily El Pais wrote on Thursday.
"Obama has forgotten (in his letter to the king of Morocco) to sing the praises of the Moroccan autonomy proposal for Western Sahara that his predecessor George Bush had supported in his messages to the Moroccan monarch in recent years," it observed.
The newspaper also recalled that following the adoption last April by the UN Security Council of the latest resolution on Western Sahara, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice "made no reference to the Moroccan proposal either."
For El Pais, if the letter of Obama “worries” the Moroccan authorities,it has generated, however "some hope" in the ranks of the Polisario Front, which categorically rejects the proposal.
The newspaper, which raises the "anxiety" of the Moroccan press in front this first initiative of President Obama in the Maghreb region, also recalled that King Mohamed VI "had not received Christopher Ross on the pretext that he was located in Oujda, nor that the UN responsible was able to speak to the Moroccan Prime Minister".
"In the eyes of Spanish diplomacy, the letter (of U.S. President) means at least Obama wants the UN to work without defining to it the way it should take, or assuming the most daring hypothesis, he stands out from the Moroccan proposal of autonomy at the time of seeking a solution to the conflict," the Spanish newspaper wrote.
The proposed settlement to the conflict that Mr. Ross will put on the table "is not yet defined", but "considering similar ideas to those of James Baker, former U.S. Secretary of State and Special Envoy of the United Nations for Western Sahara, El Pais pointed out, quoting a Spanish diplomat.
The informal meeting between the Polisario Front and Morocco, in July in Vienna, will take place in another format with the presence of two representatives of both parties, according to El Pais, also citing diplomatic sources. Wednesday, a Spanish lawyer, Carlos Ruiz Miguel, has affirmed in a statement to the press that President Obama is "putting pressure on Morocco to accept a "solution to the conflict in Western Sahara in conformity with international legality."
"The recent letter of Obama to the King of Morocco made no reference to U.S. support to the Moroccan proposal for autonomy in Western Sahara, but asks him to support the efforts of the Special Envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, "he said.
"For me, it is clear that neither the United States, nor Ross supports the Moroccan proposal to grant broad autonomy for the Sahrawi people, there is every indication that we are heading towards a version of the Baker Plan, which is still valid to find a just and lasting solution to the conflict, "he affirmed.
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