The United Nations is keen to spare the goat and the cabbage. Between the Spanish version, expressed on condition of anonymity, welcoming Staffan de Mistura’s support for Pedro Sanchez’s support for the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara, and the Algerian version, openly, claiming the opposite, the UN has brought its own story.
“Statements about Mr. De Mistura’s positions or activities that are not published by him or by us here in this office are too often a distortion of the facts,” he said. said the spokesperson of the UN Secretary General during his press briefing on Thursday 21 April.
“With regard to the substance of Spain’s announcement last month, as we noted at the time, the personal envoy took good note of Spain’s reaffirmed support for a UN-facilitated process. on Western Sahara aimed at a mutually acceptable solution, in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, particularly the most recent, resolution 2602 (2021)”, underlined Stéphane Dujarric. The official avoided mentioning Spain’s shift in position, expressed in Pedro Sanchez’s March 14 letter to King Mohammed VI.
As a reminder, Spanish government sources affirmed, on Wednesday in statements to The Newspaper of Spainthat De Mistura welcomed Pedro Sanchez’s support for the Moroccan initiative in Western Sahara, calling it “clearer”.
The publication of these confidences pushed Algeria to reply. “In truth, the personal envoy, Staffan de Mistura, with whom we are in contact, is the first to say that he was very surprised by the change in Spain’s position and that he therefore fears the return to because of its own mission by anything that can complicate the UN process”, advanced Amar Belani, Algeria’s envoy for Western Sahara and Maghreb countries, in a statement to APS.