Welch told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on June 6 that the North
African kingdom and Polisario have agreed to meet under United Nations
auspices later in June, Middle East Newsline reported. He said the administration has urged Morocco to
compromise in the negotiations.
"Any settlement of the Western Sahara must also take into account the
concerns of the Sahrawi people and be consistent with their right of
self-determination," Welch said. "Morocco has said its proposal would be
subject to a vote by the Sahrawi people."
The Western Sahara has been in dispute since Spain withdrew in 1975.
Morocco claimed sovereignty while the Algerian-supported Polisario Front
demanded independence. The two sides fought until 1991.
The administration has examined proposals from both Morocco and the
Polisario Front. But Welch said the Moroccan proposal offered more material
for discussion.
"It offers a potential path forward," Welch said. "We think this is a
chance to put something new on the table and address it."
Welch said the Western Sahara dispute has blocked regional cooperation
in North Africa. The assistant secretary cited Algeria's support for the
Polisario Front.
"Unless something more is done to address this problem, it'll remain a
thorn in the side of two of the most important countries in North Africa:
Morocco and Algeria," Welch said.
Welch also expressed concern over the emergence of the new Al Qaida
Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. The network resulted from a merger by
Al Qaida with several regional factions, particularly the Algerian-based
Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call.
"The threat from Al Qaida's presence in the region is significant, very
dangerous and potentially growing in a couple of cases," Welch said.
Regarding Libya, Welch acknowledged that U.S. diplomatic relations have
failed to change the dictatorship in Tripoli. He said the United States was
unlikely to fully normalize relations with the regime of Col. Moammar
Khaddafy.
"My job is not to make friends with authoritarians, it's to pursue what
I think are national interests," Welch said. "I believe that it's very
important to have the most capable diplomatic
representation possible in Tripoli to discharge our national interests,
among which are resolving these terrorism issues of the past. But we also
have other things that we need to do with the Libyan government."
Congress has become increasingly skeptical of the Khaddafy regime.
Several members have asserted that Tripoli became more aggressive in wake of
the renewal of U.S. diplomatic relations with Libya in 2006.
"The point is there are Libyans who want to change it, and I would hope
that we don't get caught into the trap, which is, in order to be friends of
the regime, that we make enemies of the people who want democracy in that
country," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, said.
