Speaking at a meeting of the Commission held on Monday in New York, Sierra Leone‘s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Amara Sowa stressed that his country supports the autonomy initiative that the Security Council qualifies as serious and credible in its successive resolutions since 2007.
The Sierra Leonean diplomat welcomed the socio-economic and infrastructural development underway in the southern provinces of the Kingdom, stressing that this dynamic has promoted the empowerment of local populations and the improvement of the human development index in the region.
Mr. Sowa also expressed his country’s unwavering support for the political process carried out under the aegis of the UN Secretary General, with the facilitation of his Personal Envoy for the Moroccan Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, aimed at achieving to a realistic, pragmatic, lasting, mutually acceptable and compromise political solution.
In this context, the diplomat stressed that Sierra Leone supports the resumption of the round table process in the same format and with the same participants, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2703, believing that this process will improve communication and will lead to a peaceful settlement of this regional dispute.
He also welcomed the role of the regional commissions of the National Human Rights Council in Laâyoune and Dakhla, as well as Morocco’s interaction with the special procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council, as highlighted in Security Council resolution 2703.
He also expressed his country’s support for MINURSO and its contribution to the creation and maintenance of calm and stability in the region, emphasizing the need to continue to support the Mission in the exercise of its ceasefire monitoring functions, as provided for in Security Council resolution 2703. The diplomat also praised Morocco’s continued cooperation with the UN Mission.
The ambassador also called for respect for the ceasefire agreement, noting that any renunciation of this agreement is a violation of the resolutions adopted by the Security Council and an obstacle to the resumption of the political process. .
And to conclude by inviting all parties to engage in good faith and in a spirit of compromise, in the political process carried out under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General.