Conflict in Western Sahara on agenda of Security Council, April 19
BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- The Security Council will discuss, on April 19, the situation in occupied Western Sahara, in a context marked by the continuation of hostilities between Morocco and the Polisario Front, according to the UN website.
Under Russian mandate, the UN Security Council will discuss, on April 19, the situation in the occupied Saharawi territories and the United Nations Mission for the Organization of a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
In addition, the Council will also hear a report by the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, and the head of MINURSO Alexander Ivanko, on the current situation in the Saharawi territories occupied by Morocco.
Last Thursday, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, received his personal envoy for Western Sahara who informed him of the results of the informal and bilateral consultations held with the representatives of the parties to the conflict.
De Mistura’s biannual briefing comes as war is in full swing in occupied Western Sahara, as the UN chief’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, acknowledged last week. The latter, who announced a ground convoy, the first since the resumption of hostilities for more than two years, to supply MINURSO sites, said: “Due to the lack of ground convoy movements since the resumption of hostilities in 2020 , the sites of the MINURSO teams (…) lack essential supplies, in particular fuel”.
Previously, the representative of the Polisario Front to the UN and coordinator with MINURSO, Mohamed Sidi Omar, had unofficial bilateral consultations with De Mistura, on the future of the peace process in Western Sahara. They focused on the state and future of the peace process in Western Sahara under the aegis of the UN.
Sidi Omar stressed during this meeting that “the peaceful, just and lasting settlement of the question of decolonization of Western Sahara cannot be achieved without full respect for the inalienable, non-negotiable and imprescriptible right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and ‘independence”.
In a recent statement to APS, the diplomat said that “among the essential conditions for relaunching the peace process is the existence of a real political will in the Moroccan occupation state, with a view to moving towards a peaceful, just and lasting solution to the issue of decolonization of Western Sahara”.
The Saharawi people “categorically reject the policy of fait accompli and solutions that go beyond the framework of international legality” and are determined to defend “by all means their sacred rights and their aspirations for freedom and independence”, he recalled.
For him, the Security Council must “mobilize all the diplomatic tools able to force the Moroccan occupier to keep its commitments under the UN-OAU settlement plan, the only agreement accepted by the two parties, to reach a peaceful, just and permanent solution to conflict, ensuring the maintenance of peace and security in the region”.
