The resolution calls for “a just, sustainable and mutually acceptable political solution” with a view to “self -determination” of the Sahrawi people.
Le Monde with AFP
The UN Security Council called the “parties” to the Western Sahara conflict to “resume negotiations”, Thursday, October 17, to allow a “sustainable and mutually acceptable” solution. The United States, which wrote the text of the resolution, regretted the lack of unanimity during this vote which collected thirteen votes for, with the abstentions of Kenya and Russia, which denounced a text “not balanced “.
The resolution calls on “the parties to take over the negotiations under the aegis of the secretary general without preconditions and in good faith”, with the objective of achieving “a just, sustainable and mutually acceptable political solution” with a view to ‘A “self -determination of the people of Western Sahara”. The council launched this same call a year ago, when the new UN emissary, the Italian staff of Mistura, took office. He has since went to the region several times to meet the various actors.
But in his recently published annual report, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “strongly concerned about the evolution of the situation”. “The resumption of hostilities between Morocco and the Polisario Front marks a clear decline in the search for a political solution to this longtime dispute,” he insisted, evoking “air strikes and fire and fire and others from the sandy wall “which separates the two parts.
The Minurso mandate renewed for a year
Western Sahara, ex-Spanish-colony, is considered to be an “non-autonomous territory” by the UN, in the absence of a final regulation. He has opposed Morocco for decades to the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria. Rabat, which controls almost 80 % of this vast territory, advocates an autonomy plan under its sovereignty. The Polisario claims the referendum of self-determination under the aegis of the UN which had been provided for during the signature in 1991 of a cease-fire but never materialized.
The ambassador of Morocco to the UN, Omar Hilale, praised the resolution, believing that it “confirms the massive support of the international community in favor of the initiative of Moroccan autonomy”. The representative of the Polisario, Sidi Omar, denounced “the continuous inaction” of the Security Council in the face of Morocco’s attempts “to impose a fait accompli in the occupied territories of the Sahrawi Republic [RASD, self -proclaimed by the Polisario ] “. This “leaves no other option to the Sahrawi people than to continue and intensify the legitimate armed struggle to defend their non-negotiable right to self-determination and independence,” he said, regretting that the States -Unis, editors of the text, have “deviated from their position of neutrality”.
The resolution adopted “does not reflect the situation” in Western Sahara and “it is unlikely that it will make it possible to facilitate the efforts of staff of Mistura for a resumption of direct negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front” For his part, commented on the UN Russian Russian ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy. The resolution adopted Thursday also calls on the parties to “cooperate fully” with the UN mission, Minurso, whose mandate was renewed for one year, until October 31, 2023.