Former Spanish PM Zapatero Urges Peaceful Resolution to Western Sahara Conflict

Invited by videoconference on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Sahrawi Movement for Peace, which was held on Wednesday in Laâyoune, Zapatero, who in recent years has shown his adherence to the thesis of the Moroccanness of the Sahara, did not explicitly mention Morocco or the Polisario in his speech, reports EFE. He rather advocated peace: "Peace is an agreement, it is to yield, to admit that one is never entirely right, because it is almost always true that the use of force is not the best alternative," he declared, alluding to the firm position of Morocco and the Polisario on the Sahara issue. "Forty-five years after the start of the Sahara war, a return to peace is necessary between the parties to the conflict," Zapatero insisted.

The other participants in this forum organized by the MSP, a movement founded by Hach Ahmed Bericalla, a former Polisario leader, stressed the need for dialogue and commitment to move forward in a conflict that has lasted for more than forty years, due to the impossibility of reaching any compromise between the parties.

The UN Security Council met on Wednesday to discuss the Sahrawi issue again. The appointment of a new Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Sahara remains pending, the previous one, the German Horst Köhler, having resigned since May 2019 "for health reasons". All attempts to appoint a new Envoy have failed, given the difficulty for Morocco and the Polisario to agree on a name.