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Join on Telegram Rabat – Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn confirmed on Tuesday in Rabat his country’s support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan to end the dispute over Western Sahara.
Asselborn reaffirmed Luxembourg’s support for the Moroccan initiative during a press conference with Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“Luxembourg considers the Autonomy Plan, presented in 2007 by Morocco as a good basis” to reach a satisfying end to the dispute over Western Sahara, the Luxembourg foreign minister said.
Luxembourg is joining a growing chorus of nations expressing support for Morocco’s autonomy plan. Over the past few years, diplomatic efforts by Morocco to garner support have resulted in recognition of the plan and Morocco’s territorial integrity from countries such as the US, Spain, and Germany, among many others.
Asselborn also renewed support for the UN-led political process as well as for the UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura appointed last year to contribute to finding a mutually acceptable and agreed upon solution to the dispute.
De Mistura aims to revive roundtable talks between the main parties to the dispute, including Morocco, Algeria, Polisario, and Mauritania.
De Mistura’s efforts, however, are met with refusal from Algeria and Polisario to engage in the UN-led political process.
While Algeria backs the Polisario front with financing and arms, its regime claims to merely be an observer and not a main party to the dispute.
The Algerian regime claims that a solution to end the dispute should be discussed between Morocco and Polisario, refusing to take part in the UN roundtable talks themselves
In September, Algeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ramtane Lamamra renewed the country’s continued reluctance to shoulder responsibility in the Western Sahara dispute.
During the UN Envoy’s visit to Algiers in September, the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that talks between de Mistura and Lamamra were about the “prospects of consolidating the efforts of the UN for a resumption of direct negotiations between the two parties to the conflict.”
Lamamra echoed the same statement in his address during the UN General Assembly.
In response, Morocco renewed its appeal to the UN stressing the importance of Algeria’s full engagement in the political process.
In a right-to-reply statement at the UN General Assembly, Morocco urged Algeria to assume “its place around the roundtables as it has already done during the two previous meetings.”
Algeria’s reluctance comes three weeks before the UN Security Council vote to renew MINURSO’s mandate. MINURSO is a peacekeeping group monitoring the situation in Western Sahara.
This month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to issue his new report on the situation in Western Sahara.
The annual report outlines the developments in the Sahara dossier, taking into account briefings from the UN envoy and MINURSO’s mission.
