Optimism wanes in talks to end Western Sahara limbo

By Tom Pfeiffer

RABAT (Reuters) - Talks over the future of Western Sahara resume on Sunday with little prospect of an end to a three-decade deadlock that has poisoned relations between Algeria and Morocco and held back the region's development.

Morocco, which annexed the northwest African territory in 1975, and ethnic Sahrawi independence movement Polisario Front have maintained irreconcilable positions since the talks began last June, frustrating United Nations mediators.

Optimism that greeted the start of talks has dwindled after Polisario, which is backed by Algeria, rejected Morocco's offer of limited autonomy for Western Sahara and Morocco ruled out Polisario's demand for a referendum on self-determination.

"I don't expect anything to come out of these negotiations because they are proceeding under bad faith," said Jacob Mundy, a Western Sahara expert at Middle East research group MERIP.

"Morocco has no intention of allowing for self-determination and Polisario has no intention of discussing autonomy."

Analysts said the U.S. presidential elections were also hanging over the fourth round of talks near New York and the main players would shun any commitments before knowing future U.S. policy in the region.

Claiming age-old rights over the territory, Morocco moved into Western Sahara after colonial power Spain withdrew, triggering a war with Polisario that lasted until 1991 when the U.N. brokered a ceasefire.

Morocco controls 85 percent of the territory, including the coastline with its rich fishing grounds, the main towns and most of the area's natural resources. Stalemate in talks allows it to maintain that status quo.

Tens of thousands of Sahrawis displaced by the conflict have lived since the mid-1970s in camps on a windy plateau deep in the Algerian desert and rely on aid, much of it from Algeria.

No country recognizes Morocco's claim over Western Sahara. An International Court of Justice advisory body found in 1975 that there were some legal ties between Western Sahara and Morocco but this did not imply sovereignty.

But Morocco has powerful allies -- France, Spain and the United States -- which have all voiced support for its autonomy plan while denying any partiality in the dispute.

Algeria opposes Morocco's offer, a position Rabat says is aimed at furthering Algeria's sphere of influence and destabilizing the region.

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The United Nations was supposed to stage a vote allowing Western Saharans to choose their leaders but Morocco now opposes that, saying the region is part of its national territory.

The U.N. mission set up to organize the vote, Minurso, now limits its role to monitoring movements of troops and military equipment and the destruction of millions of war-era landmines.