Algeria and UN discuss how to start a direct negotiation between Morocco and Polisario Front

This is the main public conclusion of this Monday’s meeting between Italian-Swedish diplomat de Mistura and head of Algerian diplomacy, Ramtane Lamamra. This three-day visit to the country (announced by El Periódico de España) is the first since the ceasefire between Polisario and Morocco broke down in 2020 and Spain changed its position in the conflict in March this year.

Morocco and the Polisario Front technically at war Two years ago, the Polisario Front came in response to an attack by Moroccan forces at the Guerguerat border crossing, which separated Mauritania from the territory that Morocco had occupied since then, as it considered the ceasefire agreement signed with Rabat in 1991 to be broken. Spain left in 1975 when Rabat sent tens of thousands of people to what became known as the Green March.

Since then, the status has been disputed: Rabat considers it its own and built a wall surrounding itThe Saharawi liberation group, the Polisario Front, claims it belongs to him. United Nations, through the Minurso missionpromotes the self-determination referendum. Spain now supports Morocco’s plan to grant autonomy to the region as “the most serious, reliable and realistic base” for resolving the conflict.

international efforts

According to the memo, De Mistura and the Algerian foreign minister also discussed “recent political events related to the Sahrawi issue”. That is, the breaking of the ceasefire or the changing of the positions of Spain and other countries such as France, Germany or the United States (Donald Trump began to recognize the “sovereignty” of Morocco over Western Sahara)

“Hopes to strengthen international efforts” were highlighted. continue direct negotiationsThe solution argues that Algeria must be “acceptable to both parties” and must “guarantee that the people of the Sahara can exercise their inalienable or inalienable right of determination in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations and its relevant resolutions”. the doctrine of decolonization”.

mixture was in Morocco last July. After Rabat, he intended to go to Al Aaiun, the most important city in Western Sahara and which he considered the occupied capital of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). In an unexpected turn, he canceled the symbolic visit at the last moment. According to the Polisario Front, it was a protest against Rabat’s attempt to control de Mistura’s agenda.

Now, according to the United Nations memo, he plans to travel. Nuakchott (Mauritania) He will meet with the country’s officials on September 10. “During these regional meetings, the Personal Envoy continues to seek to deepen consultations with all parties concerned on the prospects for constructively moving forward in the political process of Western Sahara. In this regard, he plans to stick to the precedents set by his predecessors.”

Last year, Mistura held the position of envoy to Western Sahara (she managed to get them to the negotiating table), which had been vacant since Germany’s Horst Kohler left in 2019 after seven years of trying to bring the sides together. Earlier, American James Baker, the personal envoy of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, tried it.

EU in Algeria

Charles Michel, President of the European Council, He met with Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebune in Algiers on Monday., at the presidential palace popularly known as El Muradia. The meeting comes four months after Algeria launched commercial reprisals against Spain for supporting Morocco’s Sahara plan. The European Union is responsible for trade policy, because there is an agreement signed between the 27th and Algeria. So far, no action has been announced in this regard.

“in Algeria Strengthening cooperation with the European Union. Regional stability and security, energy, trade and prosperity are our common goals,” Michel said on his official Twitter profile.

Michel, who attended the Martyrs’ Monument to commemorate Algeria’s War of Independence from France, also met with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, according to the state news agency PHC.

Since the break between Algeria and Spain due to a change of position in Western Sahara, European Union member states including Germany, France or Italy have sought to maintain contact with Algerian diplomacy.

It was decided to break the Treaty of Friendship between Algeria and Spain and to stop the transactions between the two countries. Cause of ‘biggest concern’ for EUbecause the bilateral relations of a third country with a single Member State are also “part of relations with the EU”.