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UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — A pro-Moroccan Sahrawi group blasted a top UN official Thursday, as vandalism of prehistoric art by UN peacekeepers in the disputed territory of Western Sahara blossomed into a diplomatic incident.

In a statement sent to AFP here, the Casablanca-based Moroccan Sahara Association (ASM), described as a "serious diplomatic faux pas" the apology offered to the Polisario independence movement by the head of the UN mission in Western Sahara (Minurso).

Minurso said that the official, Briton Julian Harston, discussed the affair with Polisario representatives during UN-sponsored talks on the territory's future in the New York suburb of Manhasset earlier this month.

Harston "apologized for the unthinking actions of some Minurso members in the past and undertook to investigate the matter further and explore the possibility of remedial action," a Minurso statement said.

This gesture to the Polisario, which wants a referendum with the option of full independence from the Rabat government, sparked anger from the ASM. That group is loyal to Morocco, which has offered broad autonomy to the Sahrawis in the territory.

ASM chief Reda Daoujni warned that if an apology was not offered to his group, it would call for a rally outside the Minurso offices in Western Sahara and in Rabat to protest Harston's "blatant pro-separatist stance."

A UN spokesman here said Harston "apologized to the Polisario representatives because they were the ones who brought up the issue with him at Manhasset."

But Ahmed Bujari, the Polisario representative to the UN, dismissed the ASM protest and told AFP: "Morocco has no legal basis to complain since no one in the world recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara."

"What is important is that Minurso agreed to investigate the affair and to take steps to have those responsible prosecuted in their own countries."

Bujari said the vandalism of prehistoric art carved onto rocks depicting human and animal figures occurred at Lajuad in the "liberated territory under Polisario control in the central south of Western Sahara."

"This is a cultural legacy going back 6,000 years," he said.

UN peacekeepers monitor a truce along a defense wall in the Sahara constructed by Morocco following a UN-brokered peace deal in 1991 between Morocco and the Polisario.

Morocco's director of national heritage Abdallah Salih spoke out against the vandalism. "We condemn these acts committed in the demilitarized zone," he told AFP on Thursday.

Minurso said that since the Polisario drew attention to the vandalism in the middle of 2007, "action has been taken to stop any further vandalism, and a formal enquiry is being undertaken."

The Times of London Thursday quoted Harston as saying Minurso personnel had sprayed graffiti onto rock art at an isolated site known as Devil Mountain, which the local population regards as of great cultural significance.

One Croatian peacekeeper reportedly sprayed "Petar CroArmy" across a rock face, while "Ibrahim" sprayed his name and number over a painting depicting a giraffe.

Morocco, which annexed the phosphate-rich, mainly desert Western Sahara in the 1970s following the withdrawal of colonial power Spain, and the Polisario failed to make any headway in their third round of direct talks this month.

But they agreed to hold a fourth round from March 11-13 to try to reconcile Morocco's offer of broad autonomy to the Sahrawis and the Polisario's demand for a referendum with the option of full independence.

Despite the 1991 ceasefire after years of fighting, a promised self-determination referendum never materialized and since 2002 Rabat has insisted that holding such a plebiscite is no longer realistic.
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