Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III resigned as the top U.N. envoy to Western Sahara after years of frustrated attempts to resolve the conflict between Morocco and independence-seeking rebels, a U.N. spokesman said Friday. Baker has grown increasingly frustrated in his job as Secretary-General Kofi Annan's personal envoy, initially in being unable to arrange a referendum on the territory's future and later failing to get Morocco to accept his latest peace plan. That plan would give Western Sahara immediate self-government and require a referendum within five years to decide if the mineral-rich desert territory on Africa's Atlantic coast should be independent or part of Morocco. The Polisario rebels, who seek independence for Western Sahara and had been pressing for a referendum, accepted the plan last July. But Morocco continues to oppose the plan on grounds that it could end the country's sovereignty over the territory, offering the region autonomy instead. U.N. associate spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Baker had sent a letter of resignation to Annan. U.N. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the secretary-general had accepted the resignation.
| The U.N. is so broken that even Jimmy Baker can't fix it. |
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