The Security Council renews the United Nations mission in African territory with the abstention of Russia and Kenya
Since 1991, the Security Council has renewed the mandate for the deployment of the blue helmets of the United Nations Mission for Western Sahara (MINURSO) 47 times. For this reason, the vote this Thursday to extend it for another year had to have been something routine. However, it turned out to be another diplomatic victory for Morocco.
The resolution, drafted by the US and approved by thirteen votes, with Russia and Kenya abstaining, encourages the parties to return to the negotiating table “without preconditions.” He supports the efforts of the new envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, but without mentioning the difficulties that Morocco has caused him to visit the territory. And he barely mentions the breakdown of the November 2020 ceasefire, which has resulted in a low-intensity war that the Security Council seems to ignore.
In addition, it no longer mentions the self-determination referendum demanded by the Polisario Front and the UN itself in the previous resolutions, and instead speaks of seeking “a realistic and lasting political solution” with a “spirit of compromise”, in parallel to the language used by Morocco. This country has also considered it a success that Algeria is urged to participate in the negotiations, an echo of the alleged responsibility attributed to it by the Government of Mohamed VI.
“Region Struggle”
“Once again the Security Council has failed,” lamented Sidi Omar, representative of the Polisario Front. In his opinion, today’s resolution “only adds more layers of confusion” to a festering conflict that leaves the Saharawi people “no choice but to continue and intensify their armed struggle to defend their inalienable and non-negotiable right to self-determination and independence. », he announced desolate. On the contrary, the representative of Morocco, Omar Hilale, interpreted with satisfaction that the result reaffirms “the massive support of the international community” for his country’s plan to end a conflict that he frames as “a regional struggle between Morocco and Algeria.”
#Morocco #achieves #diplomatic #victory #Sahara