Morocco’s UN Envoy Accuses Algeria of Direct Involvement in Western Sahara Dispute

"It (Algeria) had claimed this status in the official letter of its former ambassador to the UN, to the UN Secretary-General, on November 19, 1975," said Omar Hilale, who cited this letter. "In addition to Spain as the administering power, the parties concerned and interested in the Western Sahara issue are: Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania," he read, stressing that "Algeria has only been interested in the resolutions of the Security Council until 2001, when the Secretary-General declared the inapplicability of the settlement plan and consequently the obsolescence of the referendum."

According to the Moroccan diplomat, the eastern neighbor is not really concerned about the final settlement of the dispute over the Sahara. "Unlike Algeria, Morocco is resolutely committed to the final settlement of this artificial regional dispute, in order to preserve the stability, security and prosperity of its region, the Maghreb and beyond," he said. To support his argument, he noted that Morocco remains faithfully committed to the political process led under the exclusive auspices of the UN for the definitive resolution of this dispute, on the basis of the Moroccan initiative of autonomy within the framework of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom.

In this sense, Morocco has established a fruitful cooperation with the Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, for the implementation of his mandate to facilitate this process. This is evidenced by his various visits to the Sahara provinces, particularly Laâyoune and Dakhla, during which de Mistura met with the presidents of the two Sahara regions, the democratically elected representatives, the legitimate representatives, the local authorities, the chioukhs and the economic and civil society actors, the heads of the thirty consular posts opened in Laâyoune and Dakhla, but also the achievements and infrastructure implemented as part of the new development model of the southern provinces, with a budget envelope of more than $10 billion.

According to Hilale, this development momentum makes the Moroccan Sahara a real continental hub. The ambassador also recalled that nearly thirty countries and regional organizations, aware of the enormous potential of the southern provinces of the Kingdom, have opened general consulates in the cities of Laâyoune and Dakhla and that "this consular network demonstrates the willingness of these countries to invest in the development of the Saharan provinces, but also and above all their frank and unequivocal support for the Moroccanness of the Sahara."