Sahara: UN Secretary-General Highlights Morocco’s Cooperation with MINURSO

In his last report to the Security Council on the Moroccan Sahara, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has, once again, highlighted “close cooperation” between the Moroccan authorities and MINURSO. Guterres also highlighted, once again, “the continued cooperation and communication at the strategic level between MINURSO and the Royal Armed Forces”, including through the “two visits to the headquarters of the General Staff of the FAR, the South Zone, in Agadir, in September 2022 and July 2023”. The Secretary General added that these permanent contacts were translated at the operational level, by the holding of three meetings “between the military component of MINURSO and the FAR, one in Laâyoune in November 2022 and two in Agadir in December 2022 and January 2023, respectively”. He further indicated that MINURSO was able to carry out the visits it desired to units of the Royal Armed Forces, as part of its ceasefire supervision mandate. The UNSG also highlighted Morocco’s cooperation in demining. He stressed that Morocco “responded positively to MINURSO’s request to resume demining activities”, to the east of the defense system in the Moroccan Sahara, thus affirming that any action by MINURSO, throughout the Moroccan Sahara, is being done with the consent of Morocco and shattering the chimera of so-called “liberated territories”, which Algeria and the “Polisario” promote. The UN Secretary-General also welcomed the freedom of movement exercised by MINURSO in the Moroccan Sahara, allowing it to implement its ceasefire supervision mandate, in the best operational conditions possible.