In this particular case, he supports Morocco, who annexed Western Sahara in 1976.

“I am for Morocco’s position (on the Sahara issue), and I always have been”, he said, stressing he is against “the balkanisation of the Arab region”.

“We should not balkanise the Arab region … I am against the partition of Morocco,” added the British deputy, affirming that “there is no room for small entities”.

A while back it looked as if the Saharawi people might get their homeland back.  But then the Moroccans discovered oil. 

(Hat tip: Marcus at Harry’s Place).

It seems as if a tentative agreement has been reached to stop the fighting, and allow the second round of the election to go ahead.

The Congo is home to the UN’s largest peacekeeping mission – 17,000 men who have by and large done a good job of keeping the lid on tensions in the run up to the election.  They’ve not been able to react adequately to this week’s conflict, so it’s good to see that the a group of German and Dutch peacekeepers had been waiting in next door Gabon, just in case of any localised upsurge in violence.

This is the kind of model I think should be adopted for the majority of peacekeeping operations – wherever possible, a lightly armed force on the ground in large numbers, with a heavily armed, well trained force waiting in the wings, ready to intervene rapidly in areas of particular trouble.