{"id":223,"date":"2010-08-12T23:27:31","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T23:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\/?p=223"},"modified":"2026-05-05T21:21:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T21:21:00","slug":"why-the-un-wont-solve-western-sahara-until-it-becomes-a-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\/index.php\/2010\/08\/12\/why-the-un-wont-solve-western-sahara-until-it-becomes-a-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the UN won\u2019t solve Western Sahara (until it becomes a crisis)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Co-authored with Anna Theofilopoulou.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0px\" width=\"200\" src=\"http:\/\/mideast.foreignpolicy.com\/files\/westsahara.jpg\">The Secretariat under Ban Ki-moon does not seem to recognize, or is unwilling to admit, the tough choices facing the UN venture in Western Sahara. As early as December 1995, Boutros Ghali admitted to the Council that the differences between the sides were irreconcilable and surprised everybody by admitting that he never believed that the referendum would happen. He understood that there were really only three options on the table: force a solution on the parties, withdraw or keep pressing for negotiations. Consistently, the Security Council chose number three. For the Obama administration, these choices remain fundamentally the same and dismal in their prospects.<\/p>\n<p>Read the Original:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/?s=%22Western+Sahara%22\">http:\/\/mideast.foreignpolicy.com\/posts\/2010\/08\/12\/why_the_un_won_t_solve_western_sahara_until_it_becomes_a_crisis<\/a><\/p>\n<p>in French<br \/>\nPourquoi l&#8217;ONU ne r\u00e9soudra pas le Sahara occidental (jusqu&#8217;\u00e0 ce que cela devienne une crise)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/apsoinfo.blogspot.com\/2010\/08\/pourquoi-lonu-ne-resoudra-pas-le-sahara.html\">http:\/\/apsoinfo.blogspot.com\/2010\/08\/pourquoi-lonu-ne-resoudra-pas-le-sahara.html<\/a><br \/>\nTranslation by Amis du Peuple du Sahara Occidental, France<\/p>\n<p>in Spanish<br \/>\nPor qu\u00e9 no resolver\u00e1 la ONU el problema del S\u00e1hara (hasta que se convierta en una crisis abierta)<br \/>\nhttp:\/\/disenso.wordpress.com\/2010\/08\/13\/la-onu-ante-el-problema-del-sahara-occidental\/<br \/>\ntranslation by Javier Villate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[25,77,80,89,98,123,132],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-chris-ross","tag-minurso","tag-morocco","tag-obama-administration","tag-polisario","tag-united-nations","tag-western-sahara"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why the UN won\u2019t solve Western Sahara (until it becomes a crisis) - Western Sahara: War, Nationalism &amp; Conflict Irresolution<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\/index.php\/2010\/08\/12\/why-the-un-wont-solve-western-sahara-until-it-becomes-a-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why the UN won\u2019t solve Western Sahara (until it becomes a crisis) - Western Sahara: War, Nationalism &amp; Conflict Irresolution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Co-authored with Anna Theofilopoulou. The Secretariat under Ban Ki-moon does not seem to recognize, or is unwilling to admit, the tough choices facing the UN venture in Western Sahara. As early as December 1995, Boutros Ghali admitted to the Council that the differences between the sides were irreconcilable and surprised everybody by admitting that he never believed that the referendum would happen. He understood that there were really only three options on the table: force a solution on the parties, withdraw or keep pressing for negotiations. Consistently, the Security Council chose number three. For the Obama administration, these choices remain fundamentally the same and dismal in their prospects. Read the Original: http:\/\/mideast.foreignpolicy.com\/posts\/2010\/08\/12\/why_the_un_won_t_solve_western_sahara_until_it_becomes_a_crisis in French Pourquoi l&#039;ONU ne r\u00e9soudra pas le Sahara occidental (jusqu&#039;\u00e0 ce que cela devienne une crise) http:\/\/apsoinfo.blogspot.com\/2010\/08\/pourquoi-lonu-ne-resoudra-pas-le-sahara.html Translation by Amis du Peuple du Sahara Occidental, France in Spanish Por qu\u00e9 no resolver\u00e1 la ONU el problema del S\u00e1hara (hasta que se convierta en una crisis abierta) http:\/\/disenso.wordpress.com\/2010\/08\/13\/la-onu-ante-el-problema-del-sahara-occidental\/ translation by Javier Villate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\/index.php\/2010\/08\/12\/why-the-un-wont-solve-western-sahara-until-it-becomes-a-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Western Sahara: War, Nationalism &amp; Conflict Irresolution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-12T23:27:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T21:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/08\\\/12\\\/why-the-un-wont-solve-western-sahara-until-it-becomes-a-crisis\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/08\\\/12\\\/why-the-un-wont-solve-western-sahara-until-it-becomes-a-crisis\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e9b50b8d39f81667ce834ad87f8035ba\"},\"headline\":\"Why the UN won\u2019t solve Western Sahara (until it becomes a crisis)\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-08-12T23:27:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-05T21:21:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/08\\\/12\\\/why-the-un-wont-solve-western-sahara-until-it-becomes-a-crisis\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":13,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Chris Ross\",\"MINURSO\",\"Morocco\",\"Obama Administration\",\"Polisario\",\"United Nations\",\"Western Sahara\"],\"articleSection\":[\"blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/08\\\/12\\\/why-the-un-wont-solve-western-sahara-until-it-becomes-a-crisis\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/08\\\/12\\\/why-the-un-wont-solve-western-sahara-until-it-becomes-a-crisis\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wsahara.stephenzunes.org\\\/index.php\\\/2010\\\/08\\\/12\\\/why-the-un-wont-solve-western-sahara-until-it-becomes-a-crisis\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why the UN won\u2019t solve Western Sahara (until it becomes a crisis) - Western Sahara: War, Nationalism &amp; 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The Secretariat under Ban Ki-moon does not seem to recognize, or is unwilling to admit, the tough choices facing the UN venture in Western Sahara. As early as December 1995, Boutros Ghali admitted to the Council that the differences between the sides were irreconcilable and surprised everybody by admitting that he never believed that the referendum would happen. He understood that there were really only three options on the table: force a solution on the parties, withdraw or keep pressing for negotiations. Consistently, the Security Council chose number three. For the Obama administration, these choices remain fundamentally the same and dismal in their prospects. 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