UN Security Council to Address Western Sahara Conflict in April Meeting

The next session of the United Nations Security Council will be held virtually during the month of April due to the health crisis related to the coronavirus, the UN organization announced. This is the first meeting in which the new US administration will participate. Among the topics on the agenda, the Sahara issue. Participants will be briefed on the actions of MINURSO.

The last Security Council meeting was held on December 21, 2020. It had been convened at the request of Germany. Tensions between Morocco and the Polisario had just escalated. The Polisario militias had blocked the El Guerguerat buffer zone for weeks, thus disrupting the fluidity of traffic between the kingdom and Mauritania. Faced with these actions, the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) had carried out a military operation to liberate the passage. Subsequently, they had erected a defensive wall to secure the Guerguerat border crossing, which has been extended by 50 kilometers to Touizgui.

The last council meeting also followed the US recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara. Taken under the Trump administration, this decision has added to the tensions between the kingdom, the Polisario and Algeria. The 1991 ceasefire agreement signed between the warring parties has been violated. While Algeria calls for the appointment of a new special envoy for the Sahara and a referendum, Morocco reiterates its autonomy plan for the Sahara supported by the UN and many countries as a settlement to this long-standing conflict.