United Nations reveals new moves by the UN envoy to the Moroccan Sahara
According to the Office of the Spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General in his daily press briefing, Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-Personal General’s Envoy on the Moroccan Sahara issue, is continuing his travels in the area as his “briefing to the Security Council next April approaches,” which will involve new trips and efforts with various parties to resolve the case.
Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, told reporters during his briefing yesterday, Thursday, February 16, from UN Headquarters in New York, “I can tell you that Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-Personal General’s Envoy for the Sahara, continues his joint endeavors with all concerned.”
The objective of de Mistura’s efforts, as pursued personally by the UN Secretary-General, according to Dujarric, is “to make progress towards a just, sustainable, realistic, and mutually acceptable solution to the Sahara issue in line with the relevant Security Council resolutions.”
In the same press conference as Hespress, the UN Secretary-spokesman General’s also disclosed that de Mistura would be “among those present at this weekend’s Munich Conference on Global Security.”
The same UN representative stated that “further consultations in this regard intend to be held on the margins of the event in Munich,” according to the Secretary-Personal General’s Envoy for Morocco.
The meetings of de Mistura were organized by Mohamed Salem Abdelfattah, the head of the Saharawi Observatory for Information and Human Rights, “as part of the efforts to implement Security Council resolution 2654 of October 2022, which frames the work of the United Nations Mission and the good offices and efforts of the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy” on the fringes of a significant international gathering that will bring together world leaders to discuss security issues.
“De Mistura’s participation in the Munich Conference on Defence and Security Policies is an indication of the security implications of the Moroccan Sahara’s ongoing artificial conflict, particularly those related to the management of the Tindouf camps, which have become a stronghold for various forms of organized crime, the activities of international smuggling gangs, and the influence of armed groups in sub-Saharan states.”
The expert Saharan actor reports that “the separatist agenda is intersected with the agenda of smuggling and terrorism networks is exposed through the trade in humanitarian assistance by the separatist Frente POLISARIO,” adding that “the threat of regional security in the region is also evident by facilitating the activities of Mafiat and networks smuggling certain goods like incinerators, cigarettes, and medicines.”
The Sahara file expert actor emphasized that “it is dangerous that Algeria’s legal obligations relative to the exercise of its jurisdiction over part of its territory, including the Tindouf camps, through the illegal authorization of the Polisario, give rise to security problems involving the separatist front.”
“The refusal of Morocco’s eastern neighbor to engage in the efforts of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to resolve the conflict further impedes the rational and realistic international approach of a compatible political solution that intersects with Morocco’s autonomy initiative,” Mohamed Salem Abdelfattah wrote in his conclusion.