Sahara conflict takes center stage at UN Security Council briefing

Last updated Apr 20, 2023

The Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Sahara and commander of the MINURSO mission, Staffan de Mistura, will deliver a much-anticipated report to member states of the Security Council during today’s key meeting.

The briefing will center on the Sahara problem and work to persuade all countries involved, especially Algeria, to engage in negotiations.

De Mistura’s briefing will become increasingly more important if the Polisario Front’s reports alleging over 800 attacks on Moroccan bases continue to circulate.

This will be the Special Envoy’s first briefing of the year because he hasn’t been able to compel Algeria to engage in negotiations with the Polisario and Mauritania or find a resolution that would be acceptable to both parties.

In the meantime, Morocco has continued to hold sway thanks to powerful nations acknowledging the Sahara’s Moroccan identity.

The autonomy proposal made by Morocco in 2007 was backed by Security Council resolutions as the best way to resolve the dispute.

MT was told by Abdelnabi Sabri, a professor of international relations at the Faculty of Law Agdal in Rabat, that the motivations underlying Security Council resolutions were geostrategic.

According to him, they “give legitimacy to the autonomy proposal that Morocco presented in 2007.”

The United States of America, who is apparently drafting the UN resolution on the Moroccan Sahara and is likely to endorse the Moroccan thesis and the autonomy plan, has expressed support for this position.