Euro-MPs urge UN probe into Western Sahara raid
(STRASBOURG) - The European Parliament called on Thursday for a UN independent investigation of a deadly Moroccan police raid on a squatter camp in the disputed Western Sahara.
The 736-member legislature adopted a resolution that "strongly condemns" the November 8 incident and voices the "greatest concern about the significant deterioration of the situation in Western Sahara."
The parliament said the United Nations was the most appropriate insitution to conduct "an international independent investigation" into the raid, which was condemned by the UN Security Council last week.
The Western Sahara separatist Polisario Front has warned it could withdraw from peace talks with Morocco because of the police action on the Gdim Izik camp where 15,000 people live near the main town of Laayoune.
Moroccan authorities said 13 people died, including 11 security forces, in an operation to dismantle the camp. But the Polisario said dozens of people were killed.
The clashes coincided with a new round of UN-brokered peace talks between Rabat and the Polisario that ended with both sides agreeing only to meet again in December.
Western Sahara was annexed by Morocco after Spanish settlers withdrew in 1975, but the Polisario Front fought the Moroccan presence until the United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991.
Further information, European Parliament