TINDOUF, Algeria, 31 October 2004 — The Western Sahara independence movement reserves the right to take up arms against Morocco but for now seeks a peaceful solution to one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts, the Polisario Front leader said yesterday.

“If our right to self-determination cannot be achieved we have the right to take necessary action ... we are willing to die to defend our rights,” Polisario Front President Mohamed Abdelaziz said in an interview at the movement’s desert headquarters in southwest Algeria.

Morocco along with Mauritania invaded phosphate and fishing rich Western Sahara shortly after colonial power Spain pulled out in 1975, setting off an exodus of the Sahrawi indigenous people to neighboring Algeria.

A war between the Polisario Front and Morocco followed until the United Nations brokered a cease-fire in 1991. Mauritania pulled out in 1979.

Some 155,000 refugees live in camps near Tindouf, some 2,000 km south of Algiers. They are led by the Polisario Front, the self-proclaimed government in exile.

The UN provides aid and monitors the desert area. After more than a decade of UN efforts to secure an agreement over a referendum the issue reached a dead-end last April following Morocco’s rejection of the latest plan. The plan would give the territory semi-autonomy for four to five years. A referendum would then let residents pick independence, semi-autonomy or integration with Morocco.

Morocco says the proposal put together by former UN envoy and former US Secretary of State James Baker does not respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“The UN credibility is at stake. They must ensure Morocco changes its position,” Abdelaziz said.

Abdelaziz rejects changes to the plan and labels Moroccan calls for direct talks with Algeria, the Polisario Front’s main backer, a diversion.

“That would mean starting from scratch again ... this plan is already the most flexible one for all parties involved,” said Abdelaziz, who has led the Polisario since 1976. On Thursday, the Security Council voted to extend the UN mandate.

“As long as Morocco remains with this attitude of expansionism it risks being the source of instability and war in the region... It creates mistrust in the Maghreb,” he said. “We do not seek to return to the past, pick up arms again and restart the war.”

As a consequence cooperation, the spread of democracy and development projects suffer, he said.

Relations between Algeria and Morocco have deteriorated and a recent summit of Maghreb countries collapsed.