A UN envoy has made his first go to to Western Sahara. He pledged to advance the political course of

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations doubled down on its pledge to revive stalled negotiations over the disputed Western Sahara throughout a go to to the area this week through which its high negotiator met with officers on all sides earlier than the discharge of a extremely anticipated U.N. report subsequent month.

The go to was Staffan de Mistura’s first to the Western Sahara since he was appointed in 2021 to supervise U.N. efforts to information negotiations that date again greater than three many years.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony in 1975, sparking a battle with the pro-independence Polisario Front. The area is believed to have appreciable offshore oil deposits and mineral assets and is barely bigger than the United Kingdom.

The U.N. brokered a 1991 cease-fire and established a peacekeeping mission to observe the truce and assist put together a referendum on the territory’s future. Disagreements over who’s eligible to vote have prevented the referendum from happening. The Polisario Front renewed armed battle in 2020, ending a 29-year truce.

The longstanding established order was additionally punctured additional later that yr, when the United States broke with its previous coverage and acknowledged Morocco’s declare over the disputed territory as a part of an settlement through which Morocco normalized relations with Israel.

De Mistura met with officers in Morocco’s capital on Friday after touring Dakhla and Laayoune, its two largest cities, for the primary time. The United Nations stated in an announcement main as much as the journey that he “looked forward to further deepening consultations with all concerned on the prospects of constructively advancing the political process on Western Sahara,” and famous that the go to would precede the publication of a Western Sahara report back to the Security Council subsequent month.

Since taking workplace, U.S. President Joe Biden hasn’t altered the Trump-era recognition of Morocco’s claims. His administration has affirmed Washington’s assist for the United Nations and de Mistura’s renewed efforts, together with this week when Joshua Harris, deputy assistant secretary for North Africa, made a visit to the area, visiting Rabat, Algiers and camps in southern Algeria that 1000’s of Sahrawi refugees name house.

A press release from the U.S. Embassy in Morocco repeated Washington’s beforehand acknowledged place that it views Morocco’s plan as “serious, credible, and realistic, and one potential approach to meet the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara.”

Morocco and neighboring Algeria, which has lengthy supported the pro-independence Polisario Front, additionally affirmed their positions in statements coinciding with Harris’ and de Mistura’s journeys, with each declaring their public assist for the U.N. effort.

In talks with Harris, Lounès Magramane, Algeria’s overseas affairs minister, expressed assist for “a political solution to the question of Western Sahara which guarantees the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination,” in keeping with an announcement from the nation’s official information company, APS.

Morocco referenced its most well-liked plan to grant the area a type of self-governance that falls in need of independence.