The UN Security Council extended on Wednesday the mandate of the United Nations mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for six months until the end of April 2008.

In a unanimously adopted resolution, the council called on both Morocco and the Frente Polisario "to continue to show political will and work in an atmosphere propitious for dialogue in order to engage in substantive negotiations."

Morocco and the Polisario held two rounds of UN-sponsored exploratory talks just outside New York, in June and August, but failed to bridge the wide gap between their respective positions.

The 15-member council urged the two sides to continue UN-brokered negotiations without preconditions and in good faith with a view to achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his latest report on Western Sahara, said the two sides held mutually exclusive positions that prevented them from seriously discussing each other's proposal during the talks.

Ban recommended a six-month extension of the mandate of MINURSO, which has been in the territory since 1991 to monitor the cease- fire between the two sides.

(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2007)