Berlin, 2 November 2020 (SPS) - German Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth expressed the German government's regret over the status quo marking the conflict in Western Sahara.
Answering a question of Heik Hansel, a member of the Bundestag from the radical left party "Die Linke" on the Sahrawi conflict, Michael Roth said that the vacancy of the post of the UN Special Envoy for Western Sahara undermines the universally recognized successes of former special envoy, German Horst Koehler.
The German minister added that the Federal Government regularly insists, during the discussions with partners at the UN Security Council, "on the need to appoint, as soon as possible, a new Special Envoy and extend the MINURSO mandate by one year in a view to enabling it to successfully conduct its mission which is to prepare the self-determination referendum for the Sahrawi people."
On October 15, Germany's representative to the United Nations, Gunter Sutter, urged the Security Council to rapidly appoint "a new personal envoy" of the UN Secretary General "before the end of the year".
He assured that the stalemate maintained "affects the Saharawi people who suffer from the persistence of this conflict".
The Security Council decided on Friday to extend MINURSO's mandate for one year. (SPS)
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