Algiers, May 12, 2015 (SPS) - Algeria and Tanzania have called on the UN Security Council to “take all necessary measures” to make progress towards a solution to Western Sahara conflict, based on the right of the Saharawi people to exercise their unalienable right to self-determination.
The two countries “urged the United Nations Security Council to take all necessary measures to ensure progress in the search for a solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, acknowledging its role and primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security,” said a joint statement issued at the end of the state visit of Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete to Algeria, at the invitation of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Presidents Bouteflika and Kikwete “reiterated their support to the efforts of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his personal envoy (for Western Sahara), Christopher Ross, to find a just and lasting settlement to this conflict based on the exercise by the Saharawi people of their unalienable right to self-determination, through the holding of a free, just and impartial referendum,” said the statement.
The two presidents also “reaffirmed their support to the fulfillment of the national aspirations of the people of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.”
The two Heads of state “expressed satisfaction” at the involvement of the African Union in seeking solution to the issue, particularly through the appointment of a Special Envoy, Joaquim Chissano, and the adoption by the AU Peace and Security Council of a Communiqué on Western Sahara on 27 March 2015. (SPS)
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