Algeria, South Africa Mobilize against African Resolution on Western Sahara Issue

Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum attends a meeting with foreign Ministers and officials from countries neighboring Libya to discuss the conflict in Libya, in Algiers, Algeria January 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum attends a meeting with foreign Ministers and officials from countries neighboring Libya to discuss the conflict in Libya, in Algiers, Algeria January 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
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Algeria, South Africa Mobilize against African Resolution on Western Sahara Issue

Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum attends a meeting with foreign Ministers and officials from countries neighboring Libya to discuss the conflict in Libya, in Algiers, Algeria January 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum attends a meeting with foreign Ministers and officials from countries neighboring Libya to discuss the conflict in Libya, in Algiers, Algeria January 23, 2020. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina

Algeria and South Africa are working in full swing to either scrap or amend resolution 693, which was adopted by the African Summit in Nouakchott in 2018, diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

A well-informed diplomatic source at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, who requested anonymity, reported that Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum had pushed for getting rid of the decision during his January 11 visit to Pretoria, South Africa.

Resolution 693 recognized that the Western Sahara issue is the exclusive responsibility of the United Nations. It established an African mechanism comprising the AU Troika, whose role is limited to “providing effective support to the efforts led by the UN.”

Other sources ruled out that South Africa and Algeria succeed in their endeavors noting that Cyril Ramaphosa, president of both the AU and South Africa, had caved under pressure he faced last December at the 14th extraordinary AU summit on Silencing the Guns in Africa.

Ramaphosa had no choice but to acknowledge the resolution’s validity.

Nevertheless, sources noted that official statements may be in contradiction with hidden intentions held by the South African leader.

South Africa’s permanent representative to the UN had sent a letter on December 29, 2020, to the UN Secretary-General, related to what he called “the decisions of the fourteenth extraordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union, on the theme “Silencing the Guns”, including a decision on the Western Sahara issue.”

The correspondence triggered a strong reaction from Morocco.

Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN Omar Hilale, for his part, sent a letter to the UN Secretary General and to the President and members of the Security Council, in which he denounced South Africa’s the maneuvers and misleading tactics about the Western Sahara issue.

In his letter, Hilale pointed out that the South African correspondence misleadingly suggests that the AU extraordinary summit on “Silencing the Guns” was exclusively dedicated to the Moroccan Sahara issue, while the reality is totally different.

The South African approach to singling out the Sahara issue reveals a double attempt, at the procedural and substantive levels, to mislead the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council, the Moroccan diplomat explained.

At the procedural level, the decision and declaration of the AU 14th extraordinary summit consist of 57 paragraphs, of which only one addresses the Sahara issue, he said, adding that the wording of this paragraph is declaratory in nature, and is in no way operational.

At the substantive level, Ambassador Hilale clarified that South Africa has knowingly ignored a set of issues discussed and included in the AU Extraordinary Summit’s decision and declaration such as the threats and conflicts that hamper the development of the African continent, and the bold policies and structural economic advances, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area.

South Africa’s unavowed goal is to focus the attention of the Secretary-General and the Security Council on one issue among the 40 or so topics raised during the AU Summit at the expense of the great concerns, expectations and hopes of the continent, the Moroccan diplomat outlined in his letter.



US Adding Second Aircraft Carrier in Middle East

A photo released by the US military shows an F/A-18 Super Hornet warplane taking off from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier on March 16, 2025 - AFP
A photo released by the US military shows an F/A-18 Super Hornet warplane taking off from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier on March 16, 2025 - AFP
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US Adding Second Aircraft Carrier in Middle East

A photo released by the US military shows an F/A-18 Super Hornet warplane taking off from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier on March 16, 2025 - AFP
A photo released by the US military shows an F/A-18 Super Hornet warplane taking off from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier on March 16, 2025 - AFP

The United States is increasing the number of aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East to two, keeping one that is already there and sending another from the Indo-Pacific, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The announcement comes as US forces hammer Yemen's Houthis with near-daily airstrikes in a campaign aimed at ending the threat they pose to civilian shipping and military vessels in the region.

The Carl Vinson will join the Harry S. Truman in the Middle East "to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

"To complement the CENTCOM maritime posture, the secretary also ordered the deployment of additional squadrons and other air assets that will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities," Parnell said, referring to the US military command responsible for the region, AFP reported.

"The United States and its partners remain committed to regional security in the CENTCOM (area of responsibility) and are prepared to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the region," he added.

The Houthis began targeting shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the start of the Gaza war in 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.

Houthi attacks have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal, a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic. Ongoing attacks are forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.

- 'Real pain' -

A day before the carrier announcement, US President Donald Trump vowed that strikes on Yemen's Houthis would continue until they are no longer a threat to shipping.

"The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump added that the Houthis had been "decimated" by "relentless" strikes since March 15, saying that US forces "hit them every day and night -- Harder and harder."

On Wednesday, the Houthis accused the United States of killing four people in fresh airstrikes on Hodeidah province.

The US president has also ramped up rhetoric towards Tehran, threatening that "there will be bombing" if Iran does not reach a deal on its nuclear program.

Satellite images seen by AFP showed that Washington had between March 26 and Wednesday doubled the number of B-2 bombers at a US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, from three to six.

The photos from imaging company Planet Labs PBC also showed the presence of six Stratotanker in-flight refuelling aircraft at the Diego Garcia base, within range of Iran.

Trump's threats come as his administration battles a scandal over the accidental leak of a secret group chat by senior security officials on the Yemen strikes.

The Atlantic magazine revealed last week that its editor -- a well-known US journalist -- was inadvertently included in a chat on the commercially available Signal app where top officials were discussing the strikes.

The officials, including Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussed details of airstrike timings and intelligence -- unaware that the highly sensitive information was being simultaneously read by a member of the media.