PSC/AHG/2(CCL) Annex 4 Page 15 holding of a referendum to enable the people of the Territory to choose between the option of independence and that of integration into the Kingdom of Morocco. 50. Over the past year, the UN Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Ambassador Christopher Ross, continued his efforts through the mechanism of “informal” talks endorsed by the Security Council in its resolution 1871. Ambassador Ross recently launched his 4th consultation tour of the region and secured the agreement of the Parties, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front, and that of the neighboring countries, Algeria and Mauritania, for the holding of a third “informal” meeting in New York, in November 2010. The informal talks are intended to prepare the ground for the 5th round of the Manhasset talks. The third informal talks convened in New York on 8 and 9 November 2010. However, no progress was made due to Morocco’s preconditions that its autonomy proposal be the sole basis of discussion, excluding the Frente POLISARIO’s referendum proposal that includes the option of independence as well. The Parties have agreed to continue with the informal talks, and meetings in that respect are envisaged in December or early next year. In September, the UN Special Representative for Western Sahara visited Addis Ababa for consultations with the AU Commission on the issue. 51. The tragic events that have unfolded in Laayoune, Western Sahara, on 8 November 2010, as a result of the assault by Moroccan forces against the peaceful encampment of Sahrawis in the outskirts of the city, highlight the need for renewed efforts to find a solution to the conflict, consistent with the AU position and relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions which provides for the selfdetermination of the people of Western Sahara. Unconstitutional Changes of Government (a) Republic of Guinea 52. In line with the Tripoli Plan of Action, the AU and ECOWAS, in particular through the International Contact Group on Guinea (ICG-G), which is co-chaired by my Special Envoy for Guinea and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, have continued their efforts to facilitate the successful conclusion of the transition and the smooth conduct of elections, in close coordination with the Mediator in the Guinean crisis, President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso, and with the support of the UN, through its Special Representative for West Africa. It is within this framework that the two candidates who emerged as the winners of the first round, which took place on 4 June 2010, Cellou Dalein Diallo and Alpha Condé, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 3 September 2010, in Ouagadougou, under the aegis of President Blaise Compaoré. Subsequently, following consultations initiated by the ICG-G at its 17th meeting held in Conakry on 5 November 2010, the two candidates also signed a Joint Declaration in which they reiterated their commitment to work towards peaceful, free and democratic polls throughout the national territory, in accordance with the Ouagadougou Memorandum of Understanding.