Members of both parties agree to support Moroccan plan for peace

Bitterly divided on Iraq, a group of Democrats and Republicans are united in support for a proposal pushed by the Kingdom of Morocco to end a long-running dispute over who controls Western Sahara.

A letter to President Bush signed by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and 159 other members of Congress called the plan a “breakthrough opportunity to find an enduring political solution” to the conflict.

{mosads}The dispute over Western Sahara has gone on at least since Spain decolonized the territory in the 1970s. The Moroccan government claimed historical territorial rights to Western Sahara after Spain left.

But the Polisario Front, a separatist group from Western Sahara that now operates largely in refugee camps located in neighboring Algeria, has insisted that a national referendum be held to determine the territory’s status.

The letter, sent to the White House yesterday, called the Moroccan proposal a “historic initiative,” and one that offers “profound local autonomy” to the territory.