Sahara: For Kiribati, Autonomy Initiative Offers “Peaceful Path” to Resolve Regional Dispute

The Republic of Kiribati underlined, Tuesday in New York, that Morocco’s Autonomy initiative offers a “peaceful path” towards the settlement of the regional dispute over the Sahara. “We also see great merit in the promotion of the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative which has been recognized by more than 100 countries to be a peaceful way forward for resolving” the Sahara conflict, said the Kiribati ambassador to the UN, Teburoro Tito, before the members of the 4th committee of the UN General Assembly. He also supported the resumption of the roundtable process in the same format and with the same four participants in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2654. He further praised the efforts of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, aimed at facilitating the relaunch of the political process under the exclusive auspices of the UNSG, including his two visits to Rabat, to the Tindouf camps in Algeria, to Algiers and Nouakchott, as well as the informal bilateral consultations he held last March in New York with Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and “polisario”. He also welcomed the Personal Envoy’s visit last September to Algeria, Mauritania and Morocco where he met mainly with the presidents of the two regions of the Moroccan Sahara. The diplomat invited the parties to remain engaged in the UN process in favor of peace, progress and sustainable development in the region.