Morocco hinders appointment of UN envoy to Western Sahara, says Polisario Front

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New York, 3 July 2021 (SPS) -The Polisario Front representative to the United Nations (UN) Mohamed Sidi Omar said Saturday that Morocco hinders the appointment of a personal envoy of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General to Western Sahara to impose the policy of fait accompli and maintain the political status quo in the region, calling on the Security Council to take urgent action.

“Morocco refuses the proposals of the UN,” Mohamed Sidi Omar told APS following the statements made on Friday by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who urged the need to revive the peace process in Western Sahara and called on Morocco and the Polisario Front to accept the next candidate he will propose for the post of personal envoy.

In this regard, he referred to Morocco’s refusal of the proposed appointment of Staffan De Mistura to replace former German President Horst Kohler who resigned from the post of envoy of the Secretary General in May 2019.

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) agreed on this figure and informed Antonio Guterres last April.

“The Makhzen (Moroccan intelligence services) has even gone so far as to set preconditions that arbitrarily exclude a group of UN member states, such as Scandinavian countries, Spain and Australia,” the Sahrawi diplomat said.

The statements made yesterday by the UN SG prove that he is facing real problems to appoint his personal envoy to Western Sahara, especially since he reported 13 names proposed to hold this post, the last being the Italian-Swedish, Staffan de Mistura, whose name was rejected by Morocco.

“Made from Spain, the statements of Antonio Guterres have a meaning and refer us to the role of Madrid in this issue,” he said, recalling that Spain, in addition to being the administering power under international law, is also a member of the Group of Friends of the SADR within the Security Council. It has, therefore, a legal, political and historical responsibility to engage in the new steps of the United Nations and the African Union (AU) to decolonize the occupied Sahrawi territories.

The Polisario Front representative to the UN said that Morocco is the main problem facing the UN Secretary General in appointing a personal envoy. It has no political will to move towards a peaceful solution, especially after violating the cease-fire agreement on November 13. (SPS)