The UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, is expected to organize a round of “informal” talks starting this week between the parties to the conflict. Algeria, which had rejected discussions in round tables, will have to resolve to take part.
It is in anticipation of a passage for a half-yearly report before the Security Council that Staffan de Mistura intends to organize “informal bilateral consultations” with the parties involved.
“Mr. de Mistura invited the representatives in New York of Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania, as well as the members of the Group of Friends of Western Sahara, namely France, the Russian Federation, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, to informal bilateral consultations with him, before the presentation of his six-monthly briefing to the Security Council”, indicated Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations. during a press briefing.
De Mistura has already met with the permanent representatives to the UN of France and Mauritania, countries which recognize the separatist entity of the Polisario.
The novelty in this formula is the inclusion of the “Group of Friends of Western Sahara” composed in particular of relays of the Algerian regime who defend the separatist thesis, evade or truncate several questions relating to this population.
“The personal envoy indicated that the purpose of the informal bilateral consultations would be to discuss lessons learned from the political process, deepen the review of positions, and continue to seek mutually acceptable formulas to move the political process forward,” said Dujarric.
The Italian-Swedish diplomacy said it believed that a “just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution” that will allow the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara, in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, is “possible”.