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Rabat – The personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General, Horst Kohler, has officially addressed invitations to a roundtable to the parties involved in the Western Sahara conflict.
AFP reported that the second roundtable will take place behind closed doors, like the first roundtable, which convened December 5-6 in Geneva.
Diplomats quoted by AFP said that the objective is to deepen the talks that began in December on political and economic dimensions.
While they do not expect a “breakthrough” during the second roundtable, one of the diplomats said that it would be “positive” if the second roundtable would experience the “same context, the same atmosphere, and same spirit.”
None of the parties—Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, and Polisario—have confirmed receiving formal invitations from Kohler. But the personal envoy had already announced his intention to invite the parties to a second roundtable during the first roundtable.
The second roundtable is expected to meet March 21-22 with high level representatives from the parties.
At the first roundtable, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita led a delegation which included Moroccan elected Sahrawis.
Bourita is expected to lead the Moroccan delegation again.
Morocco has been showing commitment to the UN-led political process but has also been emphasizing its principles that it will not accept a solution outside its autonomy plan, territorial integrity, and sovereignty.
It is unclear who will lead the Algerian delegation after Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika replaced foreign minister Abdelkader Messahel in the wake of continuous protests against Bouteflika’s election campaign and recent postponement of the 2019 election.
Polisario, protected by Algeria, did not make any official statement about the popular movement against Bouteflika’s regime.
