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Rabat – Morocco welcomed on Thursday the adoption of Resolution 2654 by the Security Council, which renewed the mandate of peacekeeping operation MINURSO in Western Sahara to one year.
Thirteen members of the Security Council voted in favor of the new resolution on Thursday. Only Kenya and Russia abstained from voting.
The resolution adopted a new language that has “strongly” urged all parties to the dispute – including Algeria – to engage in the UN-led political process and to support UN Personal Envoy Staffan de Mistura and his efforts aimed at finding an agreed upon and mutually acceptable solution for Western Sahara.
Commenting on the resolution, Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the Security Council confirmed that all actors who have a legal, political, and moral responsibility are required to engage in the political process throughout its duration in a “spirit of realism and compromise.”
The ministry also expressed satisfaction with the UNSC’s decision, extolling the viability of the roundtable talks initiated by former personal envoy Horst Kohler. The roundtable talks convened the parties to the dispute for dialogue in Geneva in 2018 and 2019.
Kohler resigned in 2019 due to health issues. The UN appointed de Mistura as a replacement and emphasized that the new envoy should build on the roundtable talks format to convene all parties to relaunch dialogue.
According to the Moroccan foreign ministry, the resolution comes to attest that the format of roundtables is the “only framework of discussion with a view to reaching a definitive solution” to the regional dispute.
Morocco also reiterated its position on the dispute, recalling the viability of its “credible and serious” Autonomy Plan the country submitted to the Security Council in 2007 as part of its efforts and commitment to the UN-led political process.
The ministry emphasized that the resolution is a confirmation of the “purpose of the political process, “ since the text reiterated that a political solution to the dispute “should be realistic, pragmatic durable and based on compromise. The ministry argued that all criteria are stressed in Morocco’s autonomy initiative, “whose re-eminence has been reaffirmed by the Security Council.”
The ministry also recalled the chorus of countries that expressed or frequently reiterate support for Morocco’s autonomy initiative, emphasizing that 84% of more than 84% of the member states do not recognize the Polisario Front.
The ministry also recalled the opening of over 27 consulates generales in Dakhla or Laayoune by countries, supporting Morocco’s position over Western Sahara.
The list of countries that opened consulates in the regions, includes Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, Gabon, Togo, and Cape Verde, among others.
Morocco also secured the support of many other influential countries, including the US, which recognized the country’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in 2020.
Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium are also among the 10 European countries that have publicly expressed support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as a good basis to end the dispute.
