The United Nations Security Council on Friday extended for one year the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum on Western Sahara (MINURSO), noting with deep concern the possible breakdown of the ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front.
The Security Council “decides to extend the mandate of MINURSO until 31 October 2022,” read the text of the resolution presented by the United States.
The resolution was adopted in a vote of 13 in favor to none against, with two abstentions from Russia and Tunisia. It called on parties to resume negotiations without preconditions and in good faith.
Speaking after the vote, the US welcomed the extension of MINURSO’ mandate.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said her country’s priority is to work with all members of the Council to support the parties in finding lasting peace.
Complications related to the file of extending the mandate of MINURSO have increased due to the recent tension between Morocco and Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front, in addition to tension in the Guerguerat region on the border with Mauritania.
Staffan de Mistura was recently appointed as the new Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, ending an over two year-long vacancy and renewing the prospects of reinvigorating peace talks initiated by his predecessor Horst Kohler.
Meanwhile, in a major breakthrough for Moroccan diplomacy, Colombia’s Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez announced on Thursday that instructions have been given to the new Colombian Ambassador in Rabat to extend the consular jurisdiction of the Embassy in the kingdom over all Moroccan territories, including the Sahara.
The Columbian minister had met in Rabat with her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita, who informed her of the latest developments related to the autonomy initiative for the Sahara region, presented by Morocco in 2007.
Ramirez stressed “the serious efforts made by Morocco in the search for a pragmatic, realistic and lasting political solution to this dispute, within the framework of the political process conducted under the exclusive auspices of the UN.”
