New York (United States), October 5, 2018 (SPS) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked the Security Council Wednesday to "extend for one year the mandate" of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), in support of the resumption of political negotiations early December in Geneva, Switzerland.
The UN chief calls the Security Council to extend the mandate of MINURSO to 31 October 2019, so that his envoy gets the required time and space to create the appropriate conditions for the political process to move forward.
Guterres urged the parties to the conflict to sit around the table of negotiations in good faith and without preconditions, on December 5-6 in Switzerland, as invited by UN envoy Horst Kohler.
The invitations sent to the parties to the conflict and to the two observers, Algeria and Mauritania, are in line with Security Council Resolution 2414, which shows UN's support to direct negotiations without preconditions. (SPS)
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