GENEVA: A second round of talks on the disputed Western Sahara region ended Friday with the sides agreeing to meet again, but with the UN acknowledging many positions remained far apart.
Morocco and the Polisario Front liberation movement appeared to have come no closer on the thorny issue of an independence referendum to decide Western Sahara’s fate.
The Polisario has demanded a vote — a proposal categorically rejected by Rabat.
“This is not and will not be easy,” United Nations envoy and former German President Horst Kohler told reporters in Geneva. “There is still a lot of work ahead,” he said.
“Nobody should expect a quick outcome, because many positions are still fundamentally diverging.”
Foreign ministers from Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania along with the Polisario’s chief negotiator spent the past two days meeting in a secret location “near Geneva.”
Kohler read a joint communique hailing the delegations for engaging in “courteously and openly in an atmosphere of mutual respect.”
The talks focused on finding “a mutually acceptable political solution ... that is realistic, practicable, enduring, based on compromise, just, lasting, (and) which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara,” the communique said.
The parties had agreed to “continue the discussion,” it added.
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told journalists the sides agreed to meet before the summer.
The international community has long advocated that a referendum be held to decide the status of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony on the western edge of the vast eponymous desert, stretching around 1,000 km along the Atlantic coastline.
Second round of talks on Western Sahara ends
Second round of talks on Western Sahara ends
- Foreign ministers from Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania along with the Polisario’s chief negotiator spent the past two days meeting in a secret location “near Geneva”
‘Content to die’: Afghanistan’s hunger crisis worsened by winter, aid cuts
- As winter spreads across Afghanistan’s arid landscape, work opportunities have dried up, while the wave of returning Afghans has swelled the population by a tenth, said Aylieff of WFP
- “Last year was the biggest malnutrition surge ever recorded in Afghanistan and sadly the prediction is that it’s going to get worse“
KABUL: In the dull glow of a single bulb lighting their tent on the outskirts of Kabul, Samiullah and his wife Bibi Rehana sit down to dry bread and tea, their only meal of the day, accompanied by their five children and three-month-old grandchild.
“We have reached a point where we are content with death,” said 55-year-old Samiullah, whose family, including two older sons aged 18 and 20 and their wives, is among the millions deported by neighboring Iran and Pakistan in the past year.
“Day by day, things are getting worse,” he added, after their return to a war-torn nation where the United Nations’ World Food Programme estimates 17 million battle acute hunger after massive cuts in international aid.
“Whatever happens to us has happened, but at least our children’s lives should be better.”
He was one of the returned Afghans speaking before protests in Iran sparked a massive crackdown by the clerical establishment, killing more than 2,000 in ensuing violence.
Samiullah said his family went virtually overnight from its modest home in Iran to their makeshift tent, partially propped up by rocks and rubble, after a raid by Iranian authorities led to their arrests and then deportation.
They salvaged a few belongings but were not able to carry out all their savings, which would have carried them through the winter, Samiullah added.
Reuters was unable to reach authorities in Iran for comment.
“Migrants who are newly returning to the country receive assistance as much as possible,” said Afghan administration spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, in areas from transport to housing, health care and food.
It was impossible to eradicate poverty quickly in a country that suffered 40 years of conflict and the loss of all its revenue and resources, he added in a statement, despite an extensive rebuilding effort.
“Economic programs take time and do not have an immediate impact on people’s lives.”
The WFP says Iran and Pakistan have expelled more than 2.5 million Afghans in massive repatriation programs.
Tehran ramped up deportations last year amid a flurry of accusations that they were spying for Israel. Authorities blamed the expulsions on concerns about security and resources.
Islamabad accelerated deportations amid accusations that the Taliban was harboring militants responsible for cross-border attacks on Pakistani soil, allegations Afghanistan has denied.
NO INCOME, NO AID
As winter spreads across Afghanistan’s arid landscape, work opportunities have dried up, while the wave of returning Afghans has swelled the population by a tenth, said John Aylieff, the WFP’s country director.
“Many of these Afghans were working in Iran and Pakistan and they were sending back remittances,” he told Reuters, adding that 3 million more people now face acute hunger. “Those remittances were a lifeline for Afghanistan.”
Cuts to global programs since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House have sapped the resources of organizations such as the WFP, while other donor countries have also scaled back, putting millions at risk worldwide.
“Last year was the biggest malnutrition surge ever recorded in Afghanistan and sadly the prediction is that it’s going to get worse,” added Aylieff, estimating that 200,000 more children would suffer acute malnourishment in 2026.
At the WFP’s aid distribution site in Bamiyan, about 180 km (111 miles) from Kabul, the capital, are stacks of rice bags and jugs of palm oil, while wheelbarrows trundle in more food, but it is still too little for the long queues of people.
“I am forced to manage the winter with these supplies; sometimes we eat, sometimes we don’t,” said Zahra Ahmadi, 50, a widowed mother of eight daughters, as she received aid for the first time.
’LIFE NEVER REMAINS THE SAME’
At the Qasaba Clinic in the capital, mothers soothed their children during the wait for medicine and supplements.
“Compared to the time when there were no migrants, the number of our patients has now doubled,” said Dr. Rabia Rahimi Yadgari.
The clinic treats about 30 cases of malnutrition each day but the supplements are not sufficient to sustain the families, who previously relied on WFP aid and hospital support, she said.
Laila, 30, said her son, Abdul Rahman, showed signs of recovery after taking the supplements.
“But after some time, he loses the weight again,” she said.
After the Taliban takeover, she said, “My husband lost his (government) job, and gradually our economic situation collapsed. Life never remains the same.”
The United States led a hasty withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan in July 2021, after 20 years of war against the Taliban, opening the doors for the Islamists to take control of Kabul.
As dusk gathers and the temperature falls, Samiullah brings in firewood and Bibi Rehama lights a stove for warmth.
“At night, when it gets very cold, my children say, ‘Father, I’m cold, I’m freezing.’ I hold them in my arms and say, ‘It’s OK.’ What choice do we have?” Samiullah said.
“(When) I worked in Iran, at least I could provide a full meal. Here, there is neither work nor livelihood.”
