Independent on Saturday

Call for Western Sahara

CHAD WILLIAMS Chad.Williams@africannewsagency.coM

THE personal envoy for the secretary-general of the UN, Antonio Guterres, Staffan de Mistura, recently embarked on his first visit to the disputed Western Sahara region, with hopes of making political progress in the ongoing dispute in the region.

Western Sahara is a disputed territory on the north-west coast and in the Maghreb region of north and West Africa.

About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, while the remaining 80% of the territory is occupied and administered by neighbouring Morocco.

The UNSG spokesperson affirmed that, during his visit to Sahrawi refugee camps, Staffan de Mistura, PESG for Western Sahara, “certainly did not identify any child soldier, as reported by some”.

Brahim Ghali, President of the Sahrawi Republic and secretary-general of the Frente Polisario, received Staffan de Mistura on his first visit to the region to engage with the two parties to the conflict.

De Mistura’s regional visit is ongoing. He recently arrived in the Tindouf camps, where he met with Polisario representatives, before moving to Algiers for talks with the Algerian government.

He then travelled to Mauritania, the final stop of his first regional visit as the UNSG’s personal envoy for Western Sahara.

Furthermore, the UN envoy for the disputed Western Sahara region visited refugee camps in Algeria last weekend in a renewed bid to find a diplomatic solution to the territory.

The former Spanish colony was annexed by Morocco in 1975.

Western Sahara, a sparsely-populated desert territory bordering the Atlantic Ocean, is Africa’s last colony.

In 1975, its coloniser Spain sold it to Morocco and Mauritania in exchange for continued access to Western Sahara’s rich fisheries and a share of the profits from a lucrative phosphates mine.

According to Morocco, Western Sahara formed part of the Moroccan sultanate before Spanish colonisation in the 1880s. However, that year the International Court of Justice disagreed, and urged a self-determination referendum on independence for the indigenous Saharawis, writes Joanna Allan, from Northumbria University in Newcastle. Nevertheless, Morocco invaded and used napalm against fleeing Saharawi refugees.

Tens of thousands of Saharawis fled to neighbouring Algeria, where the Saharawi liberation front, the Polisario, established a state-in-exile, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Other Saharawis remained under Moroccan occupation.

According to reports, Polisario front independence activists expressed frustration at decades of diplomatic deadlock. Recently, the UN’s Polisario Front representative said the only way forward would be to end the current conflict, AfricaNews.com reported.

The pro-liberation Polisario Front quickly redirected its armed struggle against Morocco when the kingdom seized control of Western Sahara in 1975, and it was not until 1991 that the two parties agreed to the terms of a UN brokered cease-fire agreement pledging to hold a referendum on the territory’s status. According to American news publication Foreign Policy, more than 30 years later, the vote has yet to take place despite the overwhelming support of the international community and UN.

Meanwhile, the United States has welcomed UNSG personal envoy for Western Sahara's first regional visit, which included a high-profile meeting in Morocco.

According to reports, a Moroccan delegation, including Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita and Permanent Ambassador to UN Omar Hilale, welcomed and hosted de Mistura for wide-ranging discussions on the Sahara dossier on Thursday.

“We support his efforts in restarting a credible political process leading to an enduring and mutually acceptable political solution to the Western Sahara conflict,” the State Department said in a tweet, Morocco World News reported.

During their talks with the newly appointed UN envoy for Western Sahara, the Moroccan delegation renewed the country’s commitment to the UN-led political process, local media reported

Furthermore, since hostilities between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front in Western Sahara resumed in November 2020, the EU has been reluctant to play an active role in the conflict, writes the European Observer.

However, a recent EU Court of Justice ruling against the inclusion of Western Sahara in the EU-Morocco trade deal could soon force Brussels to step into the fray, writes the online news publication.

In October last year, the UN Security Council extended the UN peacekeeping mission in the disputed Western Sahara for a year, expressing concern at the breakdown of the 1991 ceasefire between Morocco and the proindependence Polisario Front and calling for a revival of UN-led negotiations.

Meanwhile, months after the appointment of a new UN envoy on Western Sahara, veteran diplomat Staffan de Mistura, the resolution called for “the parties” to resume negotiations “without preconditions and in good faith” in search of a “just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution”.

Morocco has proposed wide-ranging autonomy for Western Sahara. But the Polisario Front insists the local population, which it estimates at 350 000 to 500 000, has the right to a referendum, say reports.

| African News Agency (ANA)

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2022-01-22T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-22T08:00:00.0000000Z

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