Rabat- United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has reiterated his call for the Algeria-backed Polisario Front to withdraw from the Western Sahara buffer zone of Guerguerat in the face of rising tension in the region.
Rabat- United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has reiterated his call for the Algeria-backed Polisario Front to withdraw from the Western Sahara buffer zone of Guerguerat in the face of rising tension in the region.
In a statement to the Security Council received by the Associated Press, Guterres urged the main parties–Morocco and Polisario–to the conflict to “refrain from actions that could affect the ceasefire in their 42-year conflict over the Western Sahara.”
The UN chief has also reportedly urged Morocco to “reconsider its refusal to send an expert mission as part of the UN effort to address questions raised by the Guerguerat situation.”
Guterres’ statement was reported on April 2, the same day when his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric denied the presence of any military activities in buffer zones despite Morocco’s repeated warnings of Polisario’s provocative escalation in restricted zones, including Guerguerat.
The UN official added that he “was encouraged by new steps” introduced by his Personal Envoy Horst Kohler to “relaunch political negotiations and urges additional steps by the parties, neighboring countries and other key players.”
Dujarric said that the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has not observed any military activities in the region, adding that the mission continues to oversee the situation “closely.”
In contrast to these statements, in the advanced copy of his annual Report on the Situation in the Western Sahara, the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, expressed his concerns over Polisario’s presence in restricted zones and called for an immediate withdrawal similar to that of April 2017.
Morocco believes that Polisario’s activities in the region is a justification for a possible war, urging the UN and Security Council to shoulder responsibility and put pressure on the separatist group to withdraw from the region.
The North African country has also promising to deter any future provocative actions from the front that could hinder settlement process and undermine the stability of the region.
