The Houston Agreement was the result of negotiations between the

Polisario Front The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Spanish language, Spanish: ; ), better known by its acronym Polisario Front, is a Sahrawi nationalism, Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to end the occupatio ...

and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

on the organization of a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

, which would constitute an expression of

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

for the people of

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

, possibly leading to full

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

or integration within Morocco. The talks were conducted during 1997 in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, under the auspices of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

representative James Baker, using the framework of the 1991 Settlement Plan. The agreement was supposed to lead to a referendum in 1998, after it had been prevented from taking place in 1992 as originally envisioned. The Baker Accord was signed at Baker Institute of Public Policy at Rice University under the aegis of

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

between 14th and 16 September 1997. in Houston and came to be known as Houston Accord. Both the parties signed the final document listing out all agreements, and was documented as UN doc. S/1997/742 par 4-13. It was the first time in the peace process that any agreement was signed between the rival parties. Morocco wanted to augment the voter list based on the census taken during the Spanish time of 1970s, while Polisario rejected the proposal, leading to the prevention of referendum of the accord.

Background

The portions of

was a Spanish Colony until 1975. It was the last colonial province in Africa. A war erupted between the combined forces of Morocco and Mauritania against the Sahrawi national liberation movement, the

, which proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) with a government in exile in Tindouf,

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

withdrew in 1979, and Morocco eventually secured control of most of the territory, including all the major cities and natural resources. Polisario was formed in 1973 to defend the rights of the Sahrawis. Polisario attacked Moroccan positions many times and have retaliated. Continued war was waged between Polisario and Morocco over prominence in the region backed by Algeria for Polisario and US, France and Saudi Arabia for Morocco. In spite of UN's continued effort, there were mutual attacks between Morocco and Polisario. During 1989, Algeria claimed that it would continue to support SADR amidst growing concern of Algeria breaking links with SADR. King Hassan's elongated delay frustrated SADR and they started an attack.

Baker Plan

The fighting continued till 1 September 1991 when a UN mission brokered peace a ceasefire in the region. There have been various proposals by both the parties in the United Nations. James A. Baker, a diplomat in the region worked out a couple of settlement plans, called Baker Plan after 1997. In the first plan, he proposed autonomy to the region with foreign affairs and defense managed by Morocco. The plan was rejected by Polisario and Algeria indicating that any proposal without independence could not be accepted. They also argued that the count of natives should be based on the census of 1975 and not based on migrants from Morocco in the interim period. The second proposal called for a referendum after five years of autonomy. The plan was accepted by Morocco initially and it was to be sealed in Houston.

The Accord

Baker convened the first direct talks between Morocco and Polisario in Lisbon on 23 June 1997. The one voter identification plan suggested by Baker was agreed by both parties in the second round of talks in London. The parties also agreed to make provisions of troop withdrawal. The third round of talks in Lisbon on 29 and 30 August brought out issues of political prisoners, and code of conduct of referendum. The final round of talks, which was held at Baker Institute of Public Policy at Rice University in Houston between 14th and 16 September 1997 and came to be known as Houston Accord. Both the parties signed the final document listing out all agreements, and was documented as UN doc. S/1997/742 par 4-13. It was the first time in the peace process that any agreement was signed between the rival parties. Both the parties, published a timetable of action items, with the major one being voter identification. Morocco wanted to augment the voter list based on the census taken during the Spanish time of 1970s, while Polisario rejected the proposal, leading to the prevention of referendum of the accord. The plan was rejected by Morocco later and Baker left the position in 2004.

References

{{reflist, 20em

External links

UN secretary general's special envoy on autonomy for Western Sahara
1997 documents 1997 in international relations Agreement Western Sahara peace process Morocco–United States relations Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic–United States relations Morocco and the United Nations United States and the United Nations