New York (United Nations), 13 October 2021 (SPS) - UN Security Council meets Wednesday for consultations on the situation in Western Sahara, the first such meeting since the appointment of UN secretary general's special envoy Staffan de Mistura.
This first closed-door briefing, taking place in a context of return to the state of war in Western Sahara, will be led by MINURSO chief, Alexander Ivanko, and the deputy secretary general for Africa at the United Nations Department of Peace Operations (DPO), Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee.
This will be the first briefing of these two officials before the Security Council. Ghanaian Akyaa Pobee succeeds Bintou Keita in May and Russian Ivanko takes over from Colin Stewart in August.
These are the first discussions on this non-self-governing territory since the appointment of Italian-Swedish Staffan de Mistura as the new UN envoy for Western Sahara, taking over from former German President Horst Kohler, who resigned in May 2019.
The meeting will be an opportunity for the members of the Security Council to welcome the appointment of De Mistura, who will take up his new position in November.
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