New York (United Nations), 29 March 2023 (SPS) - The Spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Stéphane Dujarric, said yesterday that the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, will hold informal bilateral consultations with representatives of the two sides of the conflict in New York, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia El Hamra and Rio de Oro, Morocco, and the two neighboring countries, Algeria and Mauritania.
So are the members of the "Group of Friends of Western Sahara," added Mr. Stéphane Dujarric, which includes the Russian Federation, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, ahead of the biannual briefing of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, to the Security Council in April.
According to the spokesperson for the Secretary-General, the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara expressed his hope for the possibility of reaching a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution that guarantees self-determination for the people of Western Sahara in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions. The purpose of the consultations will be to discuss the lessons learned from the political process, to deepen the study of positions, and to continue searching for mutually acceptable formulas to push the political process forward.
The Permanent Office of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front renewed, in the middle of this month, its principled position rejecting any approach that does not respect the clear legal framework of the Western Sahara conflict as a decolonization issue, to be resolved with full respect for the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence.
The Permanent Office of the National Secretariat also called on the United Nations to take its responsibilities in expediting the provision of the conditions to enable the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to carry out the mission assigned to it by the UN Security Council within the framework of the 1991 UN-African Settlement Plan.
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