 | ISBN: 978-1-58826-305-6 $15.95 | |
| 2004/179 pages An International Peace Academy Occasional Paper | ||
Jensen reviews the history of the dispute, describes the quest by the UN and interested states to facilitate a process of self-determination through a referendum on independence vs. integration with Morocco, and explores the impasse over how to determine who should be allowed to vote in such a referendum. He then turns to the more recent efforts of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's personal envoy for Western Sahara, James Baker, to resolve the conflict. Despite Baker's 2003 peace plan, the government of Moroco and the Polisario Front remain at odds, and the stalemate continues.
"This gracefully written and well argued book will obviously be useful to anyone with an interest in Western Saharan and North African affairs, but students of the United Nations itself and the means by which it adapts to novel regional and local circumstances in a complex political environment will also want this volume as an important part of their collections."—Anthony G. Pazzanita, International Journal of African Historical Studies