De Mistura travels to London to revive political process in Western Sahara

The Under-Secretary of State at the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Hamish Falconer, has met in London with the UN Secretary General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, with the aim of advancing the UN-led political process and reaching a solution to the conflict.  

The meeting underlines London's interest in the Sahara issue, as well as its commitment to support UN-led diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving stability in the region, taking into account the geostrategic role of the Sahara region following the launch by Morocco's King Mohammed VI of the Atlantic Initiative. 

During the meeting, the two parties discussed the role of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in the Sahara (MINURSO) in maintaining security and stability in the region.

In this regard, as Muhammad Boudin, an international affairs expert, explained to Al-Arab, due to the continued blockage of the political process that recent UN resolutions recommended to be reactivated, ‘De Mistura finds his diplomatic options limited, which makes him believe that he needs to keep coming up with ideas on how to achieve a new breakthrough’. 

He therefore believes that the meetings held by De Mistura should seek to achieve basic objectives, including "intensifying work on confidence building in the political process and respect for UN agreements and holding accountable those who are really guilty of creating the regional conflict over the Sahara". He also highlights the 100 countries in the world that have a clear position on Morocco's autonomy initiative, such as the United States, Spain and France.    

The results of these talks are expected to form part of the reports to be presented to the Security Council with the possibility of extending the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in the Sahara for another year in October. Meanwhile, the international community continues to hope to see tangible progress in the political process in the hope of reaching a lasting solution. 

In recent months, the House of Commons has witnessed a debate on Western Sahara in which British representatives from the Labour and Conservative parties submitted clear questions to the Foreign Office on the issue. They also called for strengthening the relationship with Morocco and recognising the autonomy initiative put forward by Rabat.  

For its part, the Foreign Office, in response to two parliamentary questions on the merits of recognising Morocco's sovereignty over its southern provinces and the obstacles preventing London from taking this step, made clear that London supports relevant international efforts, stressing that ‘British officials regularly raise the Sahara issue with international partners, including the United Nations, Morocco and Algeria, and continue to encourage constructive engagement in the political process’. 

Furthermore, in response to a question from Conservative MP Andrew Morson on the Sahara issue, the British government reaffirmed its support for UN-led efforts to reach a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, based on the principle of consensus.  

Daniel Kawczynski, the British Conservative MP in the House of Commons, recently travelled to the southern cities of Laayoune and Dakhla and held a meeting with the Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. The British MP stressed the importance of his country's recognition of the Moroccan ownership of the Sahara, ‘following the example of Spain, the former colonial power in the Sahara, as the only way to end the conflict’.  

‘Britain is not opposed to the unity of the Kingdom of Morocco, and its support for the political process in the Sahara and the efforts of the United Nations is the fruit of a pragmatic vision’, Sherifa Lemuir, a political science researcher, told Al-Arab, ‘British recognition of the Moroccan character of the southern provinces will not take long and will have a great impact on many Anglo-Saxon countries‘, she added.