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Rabat – Morocco’s permanent representative to the UN, Omar Hilale, said that the Moroccan government welcomed the adoption of Resolution 2602, which extends the mandate of MINURSO, the peacekeeping operation in Western Sahara, until October 2022.
The Security Council members adopted the resolution today, October 29, with only Russia and Tunisia abstaining from the vote.
“I would like to congratulate and thank the US, who is the penholder for the presentation and negotiation of this resolution, as well as the members of the Security Council for their support for this text,” Hilale said.
He added that the adoption of the resolution comes at a time of “optimism for the relaunch of the exclusively UN political process,” following the recent appointment of Staffa de Mistura as a personal envoy to the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara.
The Moroccan ambassador welcomed the appointment of de Mistura, conveying Morocco’s confidence in the envoy’s diplomatic experience as an asset that “will enable him to carry out this mandate of facilitating the political process” to find a realistic, pragmatic solution to the conflict over the Sahara.
Hilale reaffirmed that, similar to the four previous resolutions, the new text reaffirms the importance of the participation of all four parties to the conflict — Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and the Polisario Front.
The resolution emphasized the UNSC’s repeated calls for a “realistic, practicable, enduring and mutually acceptable political solution.” The resolution further established that such a solution would require the compromise and involvement of all parties to the conflict.
Algeria has long claimed itself as an observer to the conflict, claiming that a solution can only be achieved between Morocco and Algeria’s proxy militia, the Polisario Front.
In response to such claims, the Security Council said that it encourages the resumption of “consultations between the Personal Envoy and Morocco, the Frente POLISARIO, Algeria, and Mauritania in this regard to build on the progress achieved.”
