The US on Friday pushed for renewed talks between Morocco and an armed pro-independence group, saying it was time to “turn a corner” on decades of tension in the disputed Sahara region. Washington’s deputy UN envoy Richard Mills said the appointment this month of a UN peace envoy offered the rival forces an “overdue opportunity” to end a dispute that escalated into outbreaks of violence late last year. He addressed a UN Security Council meeting that voted to extend the UN peacekeeping deployment to Sahara for one year and express concern over the breakdown of the 1991 ceasefire. The vote was 13-2, with Russia and Tunisia abstaining. “The appointment of a new personal envoy presents an overdue opportunity to revitalise the UN-led political process and for the parties to turn a corner on the path to achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution,” Mr Mills said. Morocco in 1975 annexed Sahara, a former Spanish colony, igniting a conflict with the pro-independence militant group the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/brahim-ghali-polisario-front-leader-at-heart-of-ceuta-row-denies-genocide-1.1233654" target="_blank">Polisario Front</a>. A UN ceasefire deal in 1991 established a mission to monitor the truce and to prepare for an independence referendum that has never taken place due to rows over who can vote. Rabat has proposed wide-ranging autonomy for the territory, but Polisario officials say the local Sahrawi population — which it estimates at 350,000 to 500,000 — has the right to a referendum. The UN this month appointed veteran Italian diplomat Staffan de Mistura as peace envoy on the dispute, filling a post that has been vacant for two years and raising the prospect of reviving a stalled negotiation process. Mr Mills did not mention a US policy switch in the waning days of the Trump administration to recognise <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/us-unveils-new-map-of-morocco-that-includes-sahara-region-1.1127683" target="_blank">Morocco’s claim to the Sahara region </a>as part of efforts to have Rabat recognise Israel as part of the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/abraham-accords/" target="_blank">Abraham Accords</a>. He called Morocco's autonomy plan for Sahara “serious, credible and realistic” but only “one potential approach” to ending the dispute in the oil- and mineral-rich region. Talks involving Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania in December 2018 and March 2019 ended in a stalemate. This past year, “low-intensity hostilities” between the rival forces along the 2,700-kilometre separation barrier have occurred, the UN says.