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Rabat – Despite the UN’s explicit reaffirmation of Algeria’s direct involvement in the conflict, Algeria’s regime continues to portray itself as a mere observer in the Western Sahara dispute.
Algeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmed Attaf held a press conference on Tuesday, announcing that his country is ready to “mediate” between Morocco and Polisario.
The remarks show Algeria has no intention to engage in the UN-led political process in good faith, as called upon by the UN Security Council Resolution 2797.
The Council voted on its latest resolution on October 31, endorsing Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the only basis of a genuine political solution to the territorial dispute.
The resolution notably called on all parties, including Algeria, to engage in discussions without preconditions and with Morocco’s autonomy plan as the basis of all subsequent discussions.
It further renewed appeals to all parties to engage in constructive UN-sponsored talks with the aim of achieving a mutually acceptable political solution to the lingering Sahara dispute.
The call shattered Algeria’s unproductive attempts to distance itself from the dispute.
In comments suggesting that Attaf and his government did not fully grasp the clarity of the resolution’s wording, the UN Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, has doubled down on the meaning and implications of the resolution. Indeed, de Mistura’s insistence on the newfound centrality of the Autonomy Plan and Algeria’s role has left little to no room for the selective and ultimately misleading interpretation coming out of Algiers.
Following the vote, de Mistura said in a briefing: “It’s a very detailed resolution – every word was carefully chosen and negotiated. There are several key points: The parties are clearly identified as Morocco, the Polisario, Algeria, and Mauritania.”
Yet, Attaf claimed on Tuesday that Algeria “will not hesitate to lend its support to any mediation initiative.”
He elaborated, “Given the facts and the responsibilities that fall on it as a neighboring country to both parties in the conflict, Algeria will not hesitate to lend its support to any mediation initiative between the Polisario Front and Morocco.”
Adding insult to injury, Attaf alleged that any mediation initiative must be in line with the UN resolutions, including Resolution 2797, which clearly emphasized the autonomy initiative as the sole basis to end the dispute.
“This concern is based on our country’s firm conviction that its own security and stability are an integral part of the security and stability of its neighbors,” he alleged.
It is no surprise that these remarks come from the chief diplomat of a country that has long obfuscated and dragged its foot when it comes to genuinely engaging in the UN-led political process.
Even now, faced with growing and increasingly irreversible international recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces, Algeria has been giving ample indications of its readiness to delay the UN process and even deny its well-documented implication in the Sahara dossier.
Over the years, Morocco has successfully established that because Algeria finances, arms, hosts, and supports Polisario’s war on Moroccan territorial integrity, there can be no real settlement of the Sahara dossier without Algerian involvement.
Morocco’s permanent representative to the UN, Omar Hilale, has consistently reiterated the need for the UN to get the Algerian government involved in the UN-led political process, stressing that there would be no separatism in southern Morocco without Algerian financial and logistical backing.
“It is Algeria that created the Polisario, it is Algeria that finances the Polisario, it is Algeria that pays the Polisario, and it is with Algerian passports that Polisario separatists travel around the world,” Hilale said last year.
