MESSAGE CENTER

A thin dotted line separating Western Sahara from Morocco simply won't do, not when both of them are highlighted in white and classified as Morocco. Neither the United States, the United Nations, nor the indigenous people of Western Sahara -- the Sahrawis -- have accepted Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara since Spain withdrew as the colonial power in 1976. In 1991, the U.N. Security Council established a mission to hold a referendum on the future status of Western Sahara. But Morocco, in flagrant violation of international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions, has yet to give the Western Saharan people the opportunity to vote on their country's future.

Mikael Simble

U.S. representative for the Norwegian

Support Committee for Western Sahara

Richmond

Editor's note: The Washington Post attempts to show boundaries as they exist in fact. As such, renditions of many contested areas in the world will be controversial but are intended to show the situations as they exist. Readers should not infer that The Washington Post agrees or disagrees with the legitimacy of the boundaries as they are shown.

In the case of Western Sahara, using a dashed line implies that this area has disputed claims but in fact is being administered by Morocco and has been for almost 30 years.

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