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Resignation of UN Envoy for Western Sahara Returns Negotiations to Starting Point

UN envoy for Western Sahara Horst Koehler has resigned due to health reasons. AFP/File
UN envoy for Western Sahara Horst Koehler has resigned due to health reasons. AFP/File
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Resignation of UN Envoy for Western Sahara Returns Negotiations to Starting Point

UN envoy for Western Sahara Horst Koehler has resigned due to health reasons. AFP/File
UN envoy for Western Sahara Horst Koehler has resigned due to health reasons. AFP/File

The abrupt resignation of UN envoy for Western Sahara Horst Koehler has affected the negations among parties of the Western Sahara conflict to reach a political solution.

Koehler submitted his resignation to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, after 20 months of holding his position. During this period, he managed to gather the conflict parties (Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Polisario Front) twice at a round table to build trust after six years of halted direct talks.

The 76-year-old envoy said that he was stepping down over health reasons, a UN statement said. Guterres "deeply regretted the resignation but said he fully understood the decision and extended his best wishes to the personal envoy," it added.

Guterres thanked Koehler for his "steadfast and intensive efforts which laid the foundation for the new momentum in the political process on the question of Western Sahara," the statement said.

Morocco's foreign ministry also issued a statement saying that "the kingdom of Morocco notes with regret" Koehler's resignation while crediting him "for the efforts he has made since his nomination," in August 2017.

Morocco affirmed its support to the efforts of the UN Secretary-General in order to settle the regional conflict on Western Sahara, affirming commitment to reach a political and realistic solution that is applicable and sustainable.

The Polisario Front – backed by Algeria- said it was "deeply saddened" by the news, and thanked the outgoing envoy for "his dynamic efforts to revive the UN peace process." It added that it is committed to the political process led by the UN, stressing the demand for determining fate and independence.

With Koehler’s resignation, a new diplomatic battle starts between Morocco and Algeria to influence the decision of choosing a successor of Koehler.

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Arab World

Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.