Staffan de Mistura completa conversaciones bilaterales con las partes implicadas en el conflicto del Sáhara Occidental

Staffan de Mistura, special envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara, held bilateral meetings with Morocco and the Polisario Front and other parties involved in the Saharawi problem before the next session of the UN Security Council in April and informed António Guterres on the evolution and results of these meetings. 

At the beginning of the week, De Mistura scheduled informal bilateral consultations with representatives of Algeria, Mauritania and members of the "Group of Friends", including Spain, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and France. In other words, with all parties that have a stake in the Saharawi issue. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres received his personal envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, on Thursday evening to discuss the results of the "informal and bilateral consultations" that de Mistura held earlier in the week, according to the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) and as confirmed by media outlets such as Morocco World News quoting this source. 

In the closed-door meeting with the UN Secretary General, De Mistura informed Guterres of the "informal and bilateral consultations" held with all parties involved in the Sahara conflict, according to various media reports referring to the DPPA. 

De Misutura held bilateral talks with delegations from Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania, as well as France, the Russian Federation, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, before presenting his six-monthly report to the UN Security Council in April. The aim is to bring the region closer together and relaunch the political process of pacification in the region. 

In October last year, the latest UN resolution on Western Sahara indicated that the Security Council "strongly" urged Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania to engage with Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura for the duration of the procedure in a realistic spirit and with determined commitment. De Mistura also recently visited the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, where he saw the difficult living conditions of the Saharawis living there.

At this point, a solution is being sought to a conflict that has been going on for more than four decades after the end of Spain's colonial era. The situation is at an impasse. On the one hand, Morocco is putting forward its initiative for broad autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty, respecting UN resolutions, which has the important international backing of countries such as the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Germany and Spain, which see this option as the most realistic and credible way of resolving the Saharawi question. On the other hand, the Polisario Front is demanding a referendum on independence for the indigenous population, which is difficult to carry out and has less international support, including from Algeria, a major political rival of the Moroccan kingdom in the Maghreb, as various analysts and experts have pointed out.