UN reports on Western Sahara ceasefire violations

A confidential UN document accuses Morocco and the Polisario Front of ceasefire violations in Western Sahara after they sent security forces and fighters into a buffer zone.

The document sent to the Security Council this week states that Morocco carried out an operation between August 16 and 25 in which armed security personnel were deployed beyond the berm delimiting the buffer zone in the southern Guerguerat region.

On Sunday, the UN mission known as MINURSO said it had spotted in the buffer zone about 32 fighters from the Polisario Front, which is campaigning for the independence of Western Sahara.

MINURSO also said about 10 Moroccan gendarmes were in the area and both sides were notified that the incursions were in violation of the ceasefire, according to the document seen by AFP on Tuesday.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday urged Morocco and the Polisario to withdraw soldiers and fighters from the buffer strip and to "suspend any action that alters that status quo."

MINURSO has set up a patrol near the tense area to monitor the situation.

MINURSO was established in 1991 after a ceasefire ended a war that broke out when Morocco sent troops to the former Spanish territory in 1975 and fought Sahrawi rebels of the Polisario Front.

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, declared by the Polisario in 1976, is a full member of the African Union.

Morocco maintains that Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom despite UN resolutions that task MINURSO with organizing a referendum on self-determination.

Relations between Morocco and the United Nations have been strained after Ban used the term "occupation" to describe the status of the disputed territory, during a recent visit to the region.

In March, Rabat expelled dozens of UN personnel in angry retaliation and only about 25 have been allowed since to return to MINURSO.