2023-11-06 10:42:42
The UN Security Council has just extended the mandate of Minurso in Western Sahara for one year, until October 31, 2024. There are already analysts and experts on both sides of the Sahrawi territory who warn of the possibility of May it be the last cartridge of the United Nations, after 32 years of mediation work, to reach a solution to the dispute that is on its way to half a century since the Madrid Tripartite Agreement of 1975. The resolution that expands the presence of the Minurso troops urges Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria and the Polisario Front “to resume negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary-General without preconditions and in good faith… with a view to achieving a solution policy fair, lasting and mutually acceptable. It also mentions Spain along with the United States, Russia, France and the United Kingdom, after the informal consultations that were held at the UN headquarters in March, as actors to be taken into account in the resolution of the conflict.
In the text approved by the Security Council, the words “referendum” or “autonomy” are not mentioned, key terms for the positions of Polisario and Morocco. It does value the Moroccan proposal to grant autonomy to the Sahrawi territory “welcoming serious and credible Moroccan efforts to advance the process towards a resolution”, although it foresees as a fruit of the negotiations the “self-determination of the people of Western Sahara in the context of agreements consistent with the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations”.
Is this a final effort by the UN and the last cards that special envoy Steffan de Mistura is playing? On this occasion, the Security Council text is more forceful in some parts and calls for a decisive role for Algeria in resolving the conflict. The United Nations warns that the current status quo “is not acceptable” given the deterioration of the conditions in which the refugees in the Tindouf camps find themselves and calls for “improving the human rights situation in Western Sahara and the Tindouf camps “, in addition to encouraging the parties to work with the international community to develop and implement independent and credible measures to ensure full respect for human rights.
The extension of the Minurso mandate comes at a turning point in the Western Sahara dispute, overlaid in recent times by the war conflicts in Ukraine and now in Israel. Rabat recently achieved explicit support from France for its autonomy plan, thus joining the United States, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom, among other countries, several of which are explicitly mentioned by the UN to mediate between the parties.
Likewise, the work of the Saharawi Movement for Peace (MSP) also follows this path, which recently held in Dakar the Second International Conference that advocates for a peaceful solution to the conflict, for weapons to be laid down and a negotiated solution to be reached under the premise of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory of the former Spanish colony, but with a proposed autonomy statute that includes broad powers.
The position of the Polisario Front remains unchanged in the demand for the independence of the Sahrawi territory. In response to the United Nations resolution, he warns that in it he misses “concrete measures” so that Minurso can carry out its work in the area and denounces that it is Morocco that hinders the work of the UN. The resolution urges the warring parties to facilitate the work of MINURSO and not to create obstacles for members of the mission to visit refugee camps and other areas of the disputed territory.
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As a backdrop there is also the very origin of the resolution, promoted by the United States and the United Kingdom, ex-officio members of the Security Council. In total 13 members of the Council voted in favor of the extension and only Russia and Mozambique abstained because they tried unsuccessfully to include some mention of the original mission of the peace force (the self-determination referendum), as well as to request that Morocco accept the visit. to the territory of UN human rights rapporteurs.
Thus, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, recently called for an “open mind” when facing the situation, leaving aside the preconditions and focusing on the interests that exist in common, warning of the urgency to resolve the conflict after almost half a century.
A week of attacks and explosions
The latest UN statement, made public a week ago, was preceded by a series of attacks and explosions in several Sahrawi cities that occurred again this weekend, which has also led to protests. In one of the attacks, specifically in the town of Smara, one person was killed and several injured, according to the information collected. This past weekend, specifically at dawn from Saturday to Sunday and yesterday, new explosions also occurred in Smara and surrounding areas that have been claimed by the Polisario Front which, remember, there is a war conflict in the former Spanish colony although Rabat I denied it. “It is no secret: We are at war (although) the occupying State does not want to recognize it,” declared at the UN the representative of the Polisario Front, Sidi Mohamed Omar, in reference to the projectile attack that, according to Morocco, left one dead and three injured, all of them civilians. If the Polisario’s responsibility is confirmed, these attacks would be the most serious to occur in the region, since in the three years since the ceasefire was broken by the Polisario Front, in 2020, its actions had been concentrated solely against military objectives together to the defense wall built by the Moroccan army. | RAD
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