U.N. council favors informal talks on Western Sahara

UNITED NATIONS, The Security Council endorsed on Thursday a change of approach by the U.N. mediator in the decades-old Western Sahara dispute, focusing on small, informal meetings between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

The mediator, former U.S. diplomat Christopher Ross, believes that will be more effective as a next step, after four rounds of full-scale negotiations in the past two years led to no accord on the future of the territory, U.N. officials said.

Rabat, which annexed the resource-rich former Spanish colony after Madrid left in 1975, has proposed that it become an autonomous region of Morocco. The Polisario movement, which fought a guerrilla war in Sahara until a U.N.-brokered truce in 1991, wants a referendum with independence as one option.

A resolution approved on Thursday by all 15 Security Council members welcomed the parties' agreement to Ross' idea of informal talks and extended the mandate of a 200-strong U.N. military observer force in Western Sahara for a further year.

U.N. officials say the talks, for which no time or venue has been set, might include as few as two officials from each side and would aim to get them talking out of the public eye to prepare for an eventual further round of full negotiations.

One theme could be the expansion of confidence-building measures beyond current arrangements for visits and phone calls between divided Sahara families. Tens of thousands of Sahrawis live in camps in neighboring Algeria, which backs Polisario.

U.N. officials have said past rounds of negotiations, held in the Long Island town of Manhasset near New York, have led to "grandstanding," with both sides repeating their positions and refusing to negotiate seriously.

PHOSPHATE-RICH

The Security Council has long been divided on the issue of Sahara, which is rich in phosphates, offshore fisheries and potentially oil. France and the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush backed Morocco's position, while several developing nations favored Polisario.

The previous U.N. mediator, Dutch diplomat Peter van Walsum, angered Polisario with a statement appearing to rule out independence. Ross took over the mediating job in January.

Speaking on Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice made clear she shared long-standing U.S. concerns the dispute was hampering the fight against terrorism in North Africa, where al Qaeda is active.

"This conflict has gone on for too long," Rice told the council. "These ongoing strains, as well as poor relations between Morocco and Algeria, have prevented regional cooperation on urgent and emerging issues facing North Africa."

She also called on both sides to "come to the table without preconditions" and did not specifically endorse Morocco's autonomy plan, leaving France the only country on the council to do so.

Polisario, which accuses Morocco of human rights violations in Western Sahara, has been pushing for rights monitoring to be included in the mandate of the U.N. mission, known as MINURSO. Morocco says that is unnecessary.

Thursday's resolution made no changes to MINURSO's mandate, but Polisario scored a small victory when the resolution referred to "the importance of making progress on the human dimension of the conflict."

Diplomats said France initially resisted the word "human," preferring "humanitarian."

But Polisario's U.N. representative, Ahmed Boukhari, expressed disappointment with the resolution. "We were waiting for more engagement of the Security Council on the question of human rights," he told Reuters.

Repsol says finds 3 new gas fields in Algeria

(Adds spokesman comment, details, Goldman Sachs downgrade, share reaction)

MADRID, Spain's Repsol (REP.MC: Quote) said on Monday it had found three new gas fields in Algeria that could produce 1 million cubic metres a day, but its shares failed to sparkle after Goldman Sachs cut its price target for the firm.

The three discoveries together are equivalent to 1 percent of Spain's gas needs, Repsol said, the most important of which is in the Reggane basin which showed flows of 629,000 cubic metres a day.

"We are optimistic because the flows are very good. They indicate there is great potential there," said Repsol spokesman Christian Rix.

Repsol has a 33.75 percent share in the Reggane bloc (KLS-1), while state-owned producer Sonatrach holds 25 percent, Germany's RWE Dea (RWEG.DE: Quote) 22.5 percent and Italy's Edison 18.75 percent.

Repsol shares were held in check by news that Goldman Sachs was cutting its price target by 2 euros to 21 euros, and fears over the nationalisation of assets in Libya [ID:nLN485321] and Bolivia, which seized control of a BP (BP.L: Quote) controlled producer on Friday [ID:nN23307550].

"If it wasn't for Goldman's downgrade, and the fear of nationalisation of oil assets in countries where Repsol operates like Libya and Bolivia, the company would be surging on the gas strike news," a dealer at a leading Spanish bank said.

Shares in the company were 1.6 percent higher at 13.99 euros by 1145 GMT, in line with the DJ European Oil and Gas index and Spain's blue-chip Ibex-35 index.

Repsol said the new wells confirmed the importance of Reggane in its strategic growth plans. Turning discoveries into producing fields normally takes three to five years.

The same consortium has also discovered a second field at the nearby Ahnet basin, with flows of 249,000 cubic metres a day at 1.28 km below the surface and 110,000 cubic metres at 1.34 km down.

Repsol and its partners have discovered a third field at Gassi Ghergui, with initial data showing flows of 158,000 cubic metres a day. It has a 45 percent share of that consortium, with Spain's Gas Natural owning 30 percent and Sonatrach 25 percent.

Repsol operates all the wells. (Reporting by Jonathan Gleave and Ben Harding, Editing by Peter Blackburn)

EU boats must stop fishing off W.Sahara--Polisario

LONDON, The Western Sahara independence movement Polisario said on Thursday the European Union must stop boats fishing off the disputed territory's coast and announced a legal framework to back up its claim to the area's resources.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara in 1975 after Spanish colonial forces withdrew, sparking a low-level guerrilla war with Polisario that ended in 1991 when the United Nations brokered an uneasy ceasefire.

The territorial dispute is still unresolved but Morocco has poured money into defending the majority of Western Sahara it controls, developed its mineral resources and fisheries and awarded oil exploration permits to foreign firms.

Polisario has long accused Morocco of illegally exploiting Western Sahara's wealth and put pressure on foreign companies working with Morocco in the territory to cease their activities.

Morocco says ancestral rights justify its presence in the territory and that most Sahrawis consider themselves Moroccan.

On Thursday Polisario said its would-be government -- the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) -- had created a 200- mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) giving it exclusive rights over the area's offshore oil and gas and fisheries.

"The EEZ also provides the legal framework for the SADR's offshore licensing regime, which is currently receiving international bids for offshore oil and gas exploration activities," it said in a statement.

SADR President Mohammed Abdelaziz called on foreign governments and companies to reconsider agreements with Morocco that do not explicitly exclude Western Sahara.

"In particular we call upon the European Union to suspend immediately the 2005 EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement in its current form, and to prevent EU vessels from encroaching upon the waters of Western Sahara," he said in the statement.

The U.N. has overseen four rounds of slow-moving talks to resolve what is Africa's longest-running territorial dispute but analysts say neither Morocco nor Polisario is willing to concede enough ground to allow for meaningful negotiations. (Editing by Tim Pearce)

UN should begin monitoring rights in W.Sahara -HRW

RABAT, Human Rights Watch accused Morocco on Friday of beating and torturing independence campaigners in Western Sahara and said U.N. peacekeepers should start monitoring human rights in the territory.

Morocco took control of most of Western Sahara in 1975 when colonial power Spain withdrew, sparking a war with Sahrawi independence movement Polisario that displaced tens of thousands of people to Polisario-run camps in the Algerian desert.

The United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991 and sent in peacekeepers to monitor movements of troops and military equipment on either side of the Berm, a series of defensive sand walls laid by Morocco.

In a 216-page report, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Polisario of marginalising those who oppose its leadership.

"The population of the camps remains vulnerable to abuse due to the camps' isolation, the lack of any regular independent human rights monitoring and reporting, and Algeria's claim that the Polisario, rather than Algeria itself, is responsible for protecting the human rights of the camps' residents," HRW said.

HRW said Morocco bans and disperses peaceful protests in the territory and denies recognition to human rights organisations. It accused Moroccan police of beating pro-independence demonstrators and sometimes torturing people in their custody.

"Morocco uses a combination of repressive laws, police violence and unfair trials to punish Sahrawis who advocate peacefully in favour of independence or full self-determination for the disputed Western Sahara," HRW said.

However, it did say repression had eased somewhat in recent years.

The rights group urged Morocco to decriminalise speech or political activity deemed to be affronts to its "territorial integrity" and end impunity for police abuses.

It said Polisario should ensure the Sahrawi refugees are free to challenge its leadership and are allowed to advocate options for Western Sahara other than independence.

HRW said the U.N. Security Council should ensure the U.N. presence in the region included regular human rights monitoring.

"Virtually all U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world include a human rights component and ... this region should be no exception," it said.

Morocco denies abusing the rights of Western Sahara's inhabitants, insists that trials of independence campaigners are free and fair and says most Sahrawis see themselves as Moroccan.

Rabat has poured money into the territory to develop what it calls its "southern provinces", defend it against attack and make use of the area's natural resources.

Tens of thousands of Moroccans have migrated to Western Sahara, drawn by special food subsidies, tax breaks and jobs.

No country recognises Morocco's claim over the territory, which is larger than Britain, but it has powerful allies. France, Spain and the United States have all voiced support for the autonomy plan while denying any partiality in the dispute. (Editing by Alison Williams)