For his 89th birthday last week, Nelson Mandela announced that he's starting a group with other political, business, and artistic luminaries to solve the world's problems. They're called the Elders, and it's an impressive group that includes Mandela, Richard Branson, Desmond Tutu, irrepressible cool guy Mohammed Yunus, Jimmy Carter, and Peter Gabriel (?).It's exciting to imagine these people using their connections and the respect they command for good. Why not start with Western Sahara? It's a long-standing problem that still has a clear solution--a referendum--and isn't as intractable as Israel/Palestine or as vague as ending hunger.
It would be exactly the kind of high-profile campaign the Western Sahara needs. Here's hoping.