By William Maclean
ALGIERS (Reuters) - The leaders of Western Sahara's independence movement Polisario want to prepare to resume armed struggle with Morocco even as they negotiate with Rabat over the desert territory, a Polisario official said on Monday.
"To win peace, you have to get ready for war," the official, Mohamed Beissat, said in a Reuters interview. "It's very unfortunate that without war you will not have peace. But that's the reality of the human race."
Beissat said the national secretariat of the movement would put the proposal to a vote by about 1,500 delegates at a policy-making congress of Polisario to be held on December 14-16 in the Polisario-controlled outpost of Tifariti.
It would be the first time preparation for war has been part of Polisario strategy since a U.N. ceasefire agreement in 1991 promised a referendum on the fate of the mineral-rich territory.
That referendum never took place and Morocco now rules it out, saying autonomy is the most it will offer. After Spain abandoned its colonial rule in 1975, Morocco annexed the territory and fought Polisario in a low-level war for 16 years.
"They (the secretariat) are proposing a combined approach for the continuation of the struggle," said Beissat, who is also ambassador to Algeria of the self-proclaimed government for Western Sahara (SADR) declared by Polisario in 1976.
INTEGRATED APPROACH
"This integrated approach is made up of preparations for the resumption of the armed struggle and at the same time the continuation of the negotiation process and the continuation of cooperation with U.N. efforts to find a political solution."
"We think that none of these three means can substitute for the other but rather each reinforces the other."
"No one should underestimate the ability of a people, small or big, to defend its legitimate recognised rights regardless of who does or doesn't support them ... I think this was made by the Timorese, the South Africans and by the Namibians.
The congress is held every three to four years. The last one was in 2003. Beissat added: "The congress will announce the main political decision, which will bind the leaders."
No country officially recognises Morocco's rule over Western Sahara but the U.N. Security Council is divided over a solution, with some non-aligned states supporting Polisario but France and the United States leaning towards Morocco.
In two rounds of U.N.-sponsored peace talks this year aimed at breaking the stalemate, the United States and France lent strong backing to a Moroccan plan to offer limited autonomy for Western Sahara but not outright independence.
A Polisario plan proposed a referendum with independence as one option. A third round is to be held January 7-9.
Morocco says independence cannot work as ethnic Sahrawis live in four countries and a referendum is impossible to stage.
Polisario is widely considered the weaker party militarily. A 1,500 km (940 mile) sand wall separates a 100,000-strong Moroccan army from about 12,000 Polisario soldiers.
Moroccan troops are stationed at regular observation points along the wall and live in small camps. Polisario is formed mainly of conscripts based in small units whose strength lies in knowledge of the land. Military experts say they would quickly adopt guerrilla hit and run tactics if conflict broke out.
