June 19, 2001

The Honorable George W. Bush

The President

The White House

Washington, D.C. 20504

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing today out of great concern over reports of further delays of, and possible departure from, the clearly agreed upon free, fair and transparent referendum for the Western Sahara. We are disturbed by reports that the United Nations, after promising a referendum in 1991, brokering the Settlement Plan and the Houston Accords, and spending over $530 million dollars in peace-keeping and voter identification efforts, is willing to undermine international human rights norms and forfeit all previous investment in settling the conflict by following an alleged “third way” to solve the conflict - a third way that would oppress the Sahrawi people by forcing them to become Moroccan citizens and would blatantly oppose the October 1975 International Court of Justice decision stating that there are no legal or “territorial sovereignty” ties between the territory of Western Sahara and Morocco.

In addition, we are very disturbed by the fact that the U.N. Security Council once expressed concern that if the referendum were held, there would be no way to enforce the results. According to recent reports, however, the U.N. is willing to guarantee a result that would not be the will of the people, precisely because the will of the people will not have been expressed through a referendum. As mentioned in previous correspondence, if the freely and fairly agreed upon referendum is not held, it will undermine the credibility and the foundation of the U.N.. If the referendum over Western Sahara is not held because the results cannot be upheld, what other important international issue would fall prey to this reasoning?

It would be a tragic undermining of our own nation’s foundations as well as international human rights norms if the fundamental human right of self-determination and carefully negotiated agreements regarding Western Sahara were undermined. If the people of the United States were to turn our back on supporting the referendum, we could be betraying not only the Sahrawi people, but also our own founding principles of freedom and democracy. Further, it would be a betrayal of the American people to use our military personnel and taxpayer dollars, whose purpose in MINURSO was to uphold the referendum, to obstruct the basic human rights of the Sahrawi people.

Stability and security in North Africa are crucial to the strategic interest of the United States and the international community. Should the referendum and the carefully negotiated Settlement Plan be blatantly ignored, it is highly probable that hostilities would resume. Enough innocent lives have been lost and damaged. It is time for the United Nations to hold the referendum and uphold the results.

Mr. President, we clearly and emphatically state our support for a free, fair and transparent referendum for the people of Western Sahara. We urge you to use your leadership to ensure that the Settlement Plan and Houston Accords are upheld and enforced.

Thank you for your attention to this serious matter. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

_________________   ________________

Joseph R. Pitts      Donald M.Payne

Member of Congress Member of Congress

Others Members of Congess also signed.

Cc: The Honorable Colin L. Powell, Secretary of State

     The Honorable Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor