The UN Security Council urged Morocco and the Polisario Front to resume negotiations for Western Sahara to find “a sustainable and mutually acceptable solution” during the meeting in which the United Nations mission in that region was extended (Minurso) . In its resolution, both were encouraged to return to the talks table “without preconditions.”
The renewal once again of the mandate, until October 31, 2023, occurs at a time of “significant deterioration of the situation”, according to the report to the council of the secretary general, António Guterres. In that document he stated that “low-intensity hostilities between Morocco and the Polisario” are taking place.
“The resumption of hostilities remains a major setback for achieving a political solution to this long-running dispute,” the document states.
The United States, which drafted the resolution tabled at the council, lamented the lack of unanimity. There were thirteen votes in favor, but the abstentions of Russia were recorded, a position in which it has persevered for some time and with which it denounced the “imbalance of the text”, as well as Kenya, an ally of the Polisario and for whose ambassador the resolution also lacked proportionality.
However, the wording is almost identical to that of previous years and is an expression of support for the work of the new envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura. But he does not mention the factor that in the twelve months of his work he has not been able to visit the territory due to the conditions that Morocco tried to impose on him, as stated in the aforementioned report by the Secretary General.
Resolution 2654 barely mentions “the breaking of the ceasefire” declared by the Polisario Front in November 2020. This has led MINURSO to document 18 bombings carried out by the Moroccan army with unmanned devices, which began on September 1, 2020. 2021 and that last July led to the death of one of the Saharawi leaders.
Nor does this text mention the self-determination referendum, demanded by the Polisario, although there are allusions to a realistic solution and the spirit of compromise, which is a type of lexicon that is close to what Morocco likes.
“The resolution irreversibly enshrines the pre-eminence, credibility and seriousness of the Moroccan autonomy plan,” Moroccan Ambassador Omar Hilale said as he left the room. “It reaffirms the massive support of the international community for this plan,” he insisted. The ambassador alluded to the option of returning to the negotiating table, whose last edition was in March 2019, although he stressed that Algeria should participate as a party involved in the conflict and not as an observer as indicated by the United Nations Organization.
Sidi Omar, representative of the Polisario Front, ruled out the inclusion of Algeria and stressed that they “will not participate in a negotiation process that is based on an approach that deviates in substance or form” from what is established by the UN and the African Union. . Omar criticized the inaction of the Security Council due to the Moroccan obstructions to the work of the Minurso and highlighted the right of the Saharawi people to the armed struggle to defend their rights.
