UN adopts resolution urging solution for Western Sahara

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council has approved a resolution calling for "a realistic, practicable and enduring political solution" to the 42-year conflict over the Western Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement.

The vote Friday on the U.S.-drafted resolution was 12-0, with Russia, China and Ethiopia abstaining.

The three countries complained that the resolution was unbalanced, and the U.S. refused to accept suggested changes.

The resolution backs efforts by former German President Horst Koehler, as the personal envoy of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to relaunch negotiations between the parties "with a new dynamic and a new spirit with the aim of reaching a mutually acceptable political solution."

Morocco supports wide-ranging autonomy for Western Sahara which it calls its "southern provinces," but the Polisario Front insists on self-determination through a referendum.