UN SG Antonio Guterres expresses concern over political deadlock in Western Sahara file
Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN, has expressed his concern over the impasse in the Western Sahara political process.
During a visit with students at a university in Paris, Guterres said, “It’s a situation that, unfortunately, continues to be blocked, and I hope that it will be possible to find a way to gradually bring the two positions closer together.”
The UN official emphasized that there were two lines of action being carried out. One is the responsibility of its personal envoy, Staffan de Mistura, to try and reach a compromise between the Polisario and Morocco or to admit that his organization is having difficulty building confidence between the parties, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
As a result of the events in the El Guerguerat region, Guterres continued, “Unfortunately, the situation is complicated and this force (MINURSO) is finding it increasingly difficult to function, as there are obstacles on both sides to the exercise of its mandate.”
Because there is a low-intensity conflict that is still ongoing and there is no clear ceasefire, the situation is perilous. Our main aim is to prevent the issue from being oversimplified, he said.
The UN Secretary-General will provide the Security Council a report on the situation in the Sahara in October of next year. Staffan de Mistura, his envoy agent, has spoken with numerous interested parties since being appointed but has so far been unable to restart the political process, which has been stagnant since March 2019.
De Mistura insists that getting all parties to the table for a multilateral discussion of the Western Sahara issue is his top objective.