The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has just reaffirmed the centrality of the UN political process regarding the question of the Moroccan Sahara. In response to a question about the recent visit of the Personal Envoy for the Moroccan Sahara, Staffan de Mistura to the region, during his press conference earlier this year with UN-accredited media, Mr. Guterres answered that “Mr. de Mistura made his first visit to the region. I am hopeful that the political process will resume again”.
Mr. Guterres added: “My message to the parties is that a problem that has lasted for so many decades in a region of the world where we are witnessing extremely serious security problems, where we see terrorism on the increase in the Sahel and more closer to the coast, it is in everyone’s interest to solve this problem of the Sahara once and for all”. And to insist “that it is time for the parties to understand the need for a dialogue in search of a solution and not just to maintain an endless process”.
This statement is at odds with what AFP reported about the parties to this regional dispute. Moreover, it comes the day after the regional visit of the Personal Envoy of the SG of the UN to Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania. It constitutes a bitter setback to the positions of Algeria and its puppet the “polisario”, and dismantles their fabrications and lies about the reality of the situation in the Moroccan Sahara, and this in more than one respect.
The UN SG indeed reaffirms the centrality of the exclusively UN political process, facilitated by his Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, whose mandate and role are confirmed in Security Council Resolution 2602, adopted on October 29, 2021. This resolution consecrates the process of round tables, with the participation of Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the “polisario”, as a unique framework for achieving a political, realistic, pragmatic, lasting, mutually acceptable and compromise solution to this question. This resolution also reaffirms the preeminence of the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative as the only serious and credible solution to this regional dispute, fabricated and maintained by Algeria, against the territorial integrity of its neighbor, Morocco. .
By insisting on dialogue between all the parties, within the framework of the UN political process, and therefore of the round tables, the SG of the UN reminds Algeria of its responsibilities and puts it before its obligations.
As a reminder, Algiers had rejected resolution 2602 as soon as it was adopted and declared that it would no longer take part in the political process. However, in the face of international pressure and for fear of being condemned by the Security Council, Algiers ended up receiving the Personal Envoy, de Mistura, during his recent regional visit, and this after several weeks of futile procrastination and delaying maneuvers. . Moreover, as in Rabat, where he met Mr. Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, Mr. de Mistura was received in Algiers by the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs , Ramtane Laamamra, confirming, if it were still needed, the role and status of Algeria as the main party to this dispute. By reaffirming the exclusively UN framework of the political process, the UN Secretary-General left no room for any other actor, neither the African Union, nor the Arab League, nor the European Union to which the Security Council grants no role in the question of the Moroccan Sahara. In doing so, Mr. Guterres rejected the sneaky attempts of Algeria and its puppet the “polisario”, targeting regional actors in the Moroccan Sahara issue.
The SG of the UN brushed aside the lies peddled by the Algerian regime and its group of armed mercenaries about a so-called war in the Moroccan Sahara. At no time did Mr. Guterres refer to a so-called military escalation in the southern provinces of the Kingdom. However, in his statement, Mr. Guterres returned at length to the terrorist threats facing the North African and Sahelian regions. It should be recalled that international reports have confirmed the proven links of the armed separatist group, the “polisario”, with terrorist groups in the Sahel.