Staffan de Mistura will board an additional tour in the Sahara
The Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General (United Nations Organization) is organizing a tour of the area, that will include El Layoun, to meet with interested parties in the framework of preparations for the upcoming meeting of the UN Security Council on the Sahara issue in October. De Mistura has previously held preliminary talks in Brussels with all parties.
The purpose of the trip is to gather information and the opinion of the parties to prepare the report that must be presented to the Security Council on the eve of its annual meeting on Western Sahara scheduled for the end of October.
The trip coincides with a new military escalation in the region where four Polisario troops died today in a Moroccan drone attack in the Tuezgui area, northern Western Sahara. Among the casualties is a high-ranking military commander, the commander of the sixth region and member of the Polisario political leadership, Abba Ali.
Faced with the diametrically opposed positions that have hindered the good offices mission of the UN Envoys for more than three decades, the Sahrawi Movement for Peace (MSP) is in favor of opening the round table for the participation of more political and representatives of Sahrawi civil society.
The UN Security Council debates the Sahara conflict and the future of the MINURSO mission every October. According to the most recent resolutions, the UN's highest body evaluates progress in the effort to find a solution. In this sense, Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for the Sahara, is organizing a trip to the area, for this he will visit several capitals of Europe during his trips.
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary general, reported that De Mistura is currently in Brussels, where “he is holding talks with the relevant parties before setting a date for his next visit to the region.”
The report of the Special Envoy will serve as the basis for a new Security Council resolution, which will ultimately decide whether the MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) mission - the mission in charge of monitoring the ceasefire in the Sahara - will continue as a mediator of the case or not. De Mistura made his last visit last July, during which he traveled to Rabat, Algeria and Mauritania.
Convincing the parties to resume negotiations is a difficult task for the Special Representative. He is expected to continue the diplomatic initiatives initiated by his predecessor, former German President Dr. Horst Köhler, which resulted in meetings between officials from Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Polisario. Conversations that, in December 2018 and March 2019, took place in Switzerland.
With the abstentions of Russia and Kenya, the UN Security Council approved Resolution 2654 on the Sahara on October 27, 2022, by 13 votes to 0. Algeria and the Polisario Group condemned the resolution, which Morocco welcomed. Along with the crucial issue of sovereignty claims, the debate will also revolve around the question of who is really a party to the conflict.
Moroccan diplomacy hopes that Algeria and Mauritania will be recognized as participants in the conflict. In particular, Algeria, which has made the Polisario Front's struggle a national issue, in addition to giving the Polisario Front, led by Brahim Ghali, a significant amount of logistical, political, financial and military support. Contrary to what happened under the leadership of Dr. Köhler, Algeria is considering not participating in future discussions.
