Sahara/Security Council: Gabon Reiterates its Support for Autonomy Plan with a View to Just, Lasting and Mutually Acceptable Political Solution

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Following the UN Security Council’s vote on resolution 2703 renewing MINURSO’s mandate for another year, Gabon reiterated its support for the Moroccan autonomy plan with a view to a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara. “Gabon’s vote reflects our support for the Moroccan autonomy initiative, which offers credible and reassuring prospects not only for ending the current impasse but also for achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution,” said Ambassador Michel Xavier Biang, Permanent Representative of Gabon to the UN, on Monday. He added that Gabon’s favorable vote also expresses his country’s support for the political process aimed at reaching a pragmatic, realistic and achievable political solution, based on compromise. For the diplomat, Resolution 2703 will support the efforts of the UN SG’s Personal Envoy for the Moroccan Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, to relaunch the political process. “This diplomatic impetus from the Personal Envoy deserves to be capitalized on by resuming the roundtable process with the participation of all protagonists,” added Biang. “We encourage the Kingdom of Morocco to continue its efforts to preserve the ceasefire and strengthen its cooperation with MINURSO,” said the Gabonese diplomat, while calling on “all other parties to do the same in the interests of security and stability throughout the region.” On Monday, the Security Council decided to extend MINURSO’s mandate for another year, once again confirming the pre-eminence of the Moroccan autonomy initiative in resolving the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara. In this new resolution, the UN executive body reaffirmed its support for the autonomy initiative, presented by Morocco in 2007, as a serious and credible basis for putting an end to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, as enshrined in Security Council resolutions.