The Houston Agreement was the result of negotiations between the Polisario Front and Morocco on the organization of a referendum, which would constitute an expression of self-determination for the people of Western Sahara, possibly leading to full independence or integration within Morocco. The talks were conducted in Houston, USA, under the auspices of UN representative James Baker, in the framework of the 1991 Settlement Plan. The agreement was supposed to lead to a referendum in 1998, after it had been prevented from taking place in 1992 as originally envisioned. This never happened, and the Houston Agreement produced few tangible results. From about 2000, the negotiations on the future of Western Sahara turned instead to the Baker Plans. Baker Plan I of 2001 was accepted by Morocco but rejected by the Polisario Front, while the Baker Plan II of 2003 was rejected by Morocco but accepted by Algeria, the Polisario, and the United Nations Security Council.
Famous quotes containing the words houston and/or agreement:
“In Washington, the first thing people tell you is what their job is. In Los Angeles you learn their star sign. In Houston you’re told how rich they are. And in New York they tell you what their rent is.”
—Simon Hoggart (b. 1946)
“Truth cannot be defined or tested by agreement with ‘the world’; for not only do truths differ for different worlds but the nature of agreement between a world apart from it is notoriously nebulous. Rather—speaking loosely and without trying to answer either Pilate’s question or Tarski’s—a version is to be taken to be true when it offends no unyielding beliefs and none of its own precepts.”
—Nelson Goodman (b. 1906)