Kacper Grass, “A Proposal for Peace in the Westarn Sahara: Applications of the Kurdish Model of Regional Autonomy”, Análisis GESI, 1/2019, www.seguridadinternacional.es [Consultado: 07/04/2019].

  Abstract:  

“Despite the United Nations’ support of a referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawi people, the Western Sahara has been under de facto Moroccan occupation since a cease-fire with the Polisario Front was signed in 1991.  

Today, with thousands of Sahrawis still living either in refugee camps or in exile, the status quo is very much in Morocco’s favor, as the country continues to profit from its exclusive access to the region’s natural resources. An examination of two historically related cases, those of East Timor and Iraqi Kurdistan, shows why a return to guerilla tactics in the pursuit of independence is now an unviable option for the Polisario Front, which should instead consider negotiating a degree of regional autonomy that would have real effects for the people it represents.”   

 http://www.seguridadinternacional.es/?q=es/content/proposal-peace-western-sahara-applications-kurdish-model-regional-autonomy      

Silvia Colombo, Marc Otte, Eduard Soler i Lecha and Nathalie Tocci, The Art of the (Im) possible: Sowing The Seeds for the EU’s Constructive Engagement in the Middle East and North Africa, MENARA Final Reports No. 4, April 2019.    

Executive Summary:  

“This report provides policy recommendations to European Union (EU) policy makers with regard to the EU’s engagement in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It draws on the inputs and insights gathered during three years of research conducted by the MENARA Project. It argues that designing a new flexible roadmap to advance mutual engagement and cooperation between the EU and the MENA is a key priority and an opportunity that should not be missed. This endeavour should take into account global and regional geopolitical shifts. The report is composed of three parts. The first articulates conclusions derived from the bottomup assessment of current and future geopolitical dynamics in and related to the MENA region. According to this assessment, the EU is perceived as an actor that could do more than it actually does. In comparison with other global players (the United States, Russia and China), the EU is perceived as a different kind of player in view of its promotion of multilateralism and regionalism and of its engagement with civil society. In addition, while not projected to become the single most influential player, durability and reliability are among its greatest assets. The level of expectations of the EU’s engagement in the MENA differs across the region – higher in the Maghreb and in Iran and lower in Turkey and in the rest of the Middle East – and depending on the issue area – the EU is expected to give a greater contribution to socio-economic development, human rights, democracy and the engagement to civil society.  

The second part of the report deconstructs certain false dilemmas or perceived dichotomies that have impinged on the EU’s potential in the MENA to date. It identifies three ‘old’ false dilemmas – security vs. democratic change; cooperation with state authorities vs. engagement with societal actors; multilateralism vs. bilateralism – and three ‘new’ false dilemmas in the making – the neighbourhood approach vs. wider geopolitical scope (the geographical scope); instrument-based cooperation vs. strategy-based cooperation (the toolbox); coordination vs. leading (the role).  

Finally, the third part of the report offers ten policy recommendations that synthesize the overall results of the MENARA Project. Each of them is developed in detail in the body of the report, while they are listed here in the spirit of setting the new roadmap for the EU’s constructive engagement in the MENA region.  

1. Making borders more friendly.
2. Engaging with intermediary structures at domestic and local levels.
3. Supporting politically impactful and locally owned strategies to conflict prevention.
4. Speaking up for freedom, fairness, pluralism and reconciliation.
5. Developing comprehensive strategies for crisis management.
6. Making a difference where it is most needed: social and environmental justice.
7. Fostering an incremental approach towards a regional security architecture in the MENA región.
8. Framing Africa as an opportunity for the Maghreb and for the EU.
9. Leveraging the comparative advantages of member states.
10. Grasping the opportunities offered by the changing international order and by the global agenda.”  

https://www.cidob.org/publicaciones/serie_de_publicacion/menara_papers/final_report/the_art_of_the_im_possible_sowing_the_seeds_for_the_eu_s_constructive_engagement_in_the_middle_east_and_north_africa