The United Nations has announced that its special envoy plans to hold a second round of talks on resolving the chronic conflict over the Sahara in March.
Horst Koehler, a former German president who leads the United Nations peace efforts between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the first round of talks in December held in Geneva; however, this round did not produce results.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the United Nations said, that the envoy “planned to hold a second round of meetings of the Round Table in the second half of March in Switzerland.”
Koehler held bilateral meetings to prepare for talks between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, in the presence of Mauritania and Algeria.
The Front demands a referendum on self-determination, which Rabat rejects.
United Nations mediators have repeatedly failed to reach a settlement on the Sahara, where Morocco and the Polisario fought wars between 1975 and 1991.
Since 1991, a UN peacekeeping mission has been deployed in the disputed area to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire.