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In a meeting today with the UN Western Sahara envoy, Staffan de Mistura, Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita reiterated Rabat’s commitment to the UN-led political process by stressing the North African country’s readiness to take part in roundtable discussions to find a workable political solution to the dispute over Western Sahara.
The Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a readout following the meeting, noting that Ambassador Omar Hilale, Morocco Permanent Representative to the UN, also attended and took part in the discussions.
During the meeting, the Moroccan officials recalled Morocco’s position on the dispute, recalling that the country’s Autonomy Plan has been widely recognized as the best route to a lasting, realistic political solution to the territorial dispute.
According to the ministry’s readout, the officials argued that recent developments have provided ample demonstration that a political solution to the dispute over Western Sahara should be based exclusively on Morocco’s Autonomy Plan.
They also reassured de Mistura of Morocco’s commitment to take part in any UN-led roundtable-style negotiations over the Sahara dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2602.
Adopted in October 2021, the resolution calls for a realistic, pragmatic, lasting, and compromise-based political solution to the Western Sahara dispute.
Read Also: UN Western Sahara Envoy Cancels Trip to Morocco’s Laayoune
De Mistura’s visit is part of the UN’s approach to advance the visibly paralyzed political process on the dispute.
Initially, de Mistura’s schedule for this second regional tour also included a visit to Morocco’s southern provinces, particularly Laayoune.
However, UN Secretary General’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced on Monday that the UN envoy had “decided not to proceed with a visit to Western Sahara during this trip, but looks forward to doing so during his upcoming visits to the region.”
De Mistura had traveled to Morocco as part of his first visit to the region back in January. During that visit, he also held talks with Algerian, and Mauritanian authorities, as well as meetings with representatives of the Polisario Front in Tindouf.
Despite the UN’s pledge to revive the much-applauded “new momentum” to salvage the stagnating political process, recent events suggest that de Mistura’s complex task has grown even more complicated than when he was first appointed to the post of Special Envoy for Western Sahara in October 2021.
Algeria has escalated tensions with Morocco and convinced the leadership of the Polisario Front to reject the latest UN resolution on Western Sahara.
For many observers, such moves by Algeria signaled more uncertainty and hostility to come as Algiers and Polisario cling to a self-determination referendum when the prevailing consensus appears to be that a negotiated political settlement is the best way to end the Sahara dispute.
