The New York Times
World Briefing
by Rick Gladstone
An angry dispute between Morocco and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations spilled into the open on Wednesday over Mr. Ban’s recent description of the Western Sahara territory as an occupation. That term infuriated Moroccan leaders and led to demonstrations in Morocco last Sunday directed against Mr. Ban, who described them as disrespectful.
Morocco’s foreign minister, Salaheddine Mezouar, who conferred with Mr. Ban on Monday in what diplomats described as a tense meeting, said he had informed Mr. Ban that his country was cutting “a large part” of its civilian support for the United Nations Mission in Western Sahara and evaluating whether to withdraw Moroccan troops from all peacekeeping operations.
Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for Mr. Ban, described the Moroccan response as regrettable. Morocco seized Western Sahara, a former Spanish protectorate, in 1976, and fought a war against a pro-independence movement, the Polisario Front. The United Nations has been trying since 1991 to resolve the conflict. Morocco has insisted on its sovereignty.
