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Rabat – Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy for Western Sahara, met today with Algeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ramtane Lamamra, and the Algerian diplomat notified the UN official of his country’s rejection of the ongoing political process to broker a politically realistic solution to the Western Sahara dispute.
The Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs later confirmed Algeria’s continued reluctance to shoulder responsibility in the Western Sahara dispute, claiming in a statement that Lamamra’s discussion with de Mistura was about the “prospects of consolidating the efforts of the UN for a resumption of direct negotiations between the two parties to the conflict.”
The statement echoed Algeria’s long-standing approach of denying its historical involvement in the Sahara dispute, and claiming instead that any solution to the territorial dispute should be discussed between the Polisario Front and Morocco.
In addition, the statement further stressed Algeria’s refusal to engage in any potential, UN-moderated roundtables involving the four main parties to the Sahara dispute: Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Polisario.
Even as it continues to shelter, finance, and arm the separatist Polisario Front, Algeria has long sought to style itself as “only a concerned neighbor” with no direct stake or involvement in the decades-long dispute over Morocco’s southern provinces.
Meanwhile, Morocco has repeatedly pointed to Algeria’s “historical responsibility” in the dispute, saying that there would be no Polisario Front without the logistical, financial, military, and administrative backing of the Algerian regime. As far as Morocco is concerned, Algeria is a full-fledged participant in the dispute and there can be no meaningful negotiations about a genuine political solution without its participation.
Read Also: Algeria Continues to Shirk Responsibility in Western Sahara
As de Mistura’s meeting with Algeria’s top diplomat comes amid tense diplomatic tensions between Algiers and Rabat, many observers say the UN’s Western Sahara envoy faces a particularly daunting challenge that has been made nearly impossible with Algeria’s apparent rejection of the UN’s mediation efforts.
In October last year, Amar Belani, whom Algeria’s President Tebboune appointed as envoy for Western Sahara, spoke of his country’s “irreversible rejection of the [UN-moderated] roundtables.”
Belani’s comments came after the Algerian Foreign Affairs Ministry had vented its frustration at the Resolution 2602, the latest UN resolution on Western Sahara. Algiers claimed that the UN-led political process has “become unproductive” because the UN Security Council favored a biased, pro-Morocco end to the Sahara dispute.
