Sahara Issue: Sierra Leone Reaffirms Support for Moroccan Autonomy Initiative

Sierra Leone reaffirmed, before the 4th Committee of the UN General Assembly, its support for the autonomy initiative presented by Morocco to definitively settle the regional dispute over the Sahara. Speaking at a meeting of the Committee held Monday in New York, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the UN, Ambassador Amara Sowa, stressed that his country backs the autonomy initiative that the Security Council has deemed serious and credible in its successive resolutions since 2007. The Sierra Leonean diplomat welcomed the ongoing socio-economic and infrastructural development in the kingdom’s southern provinces, noting that this dynamic has fostered the empowerment of local populations and the improvement of the human development index in the region. Mr. Sowa also voiced his country’s unwavering support for the political process led under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General, with the facilitation of his Personal Envoy for the Moroccan Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, aimed at achieving a realistic, pragmatic, sustainable, mutually acceptable and compromise political solution. In this regard, the diplomat said that Sierra Leone supports the resumption of the round table process in the same format and with the same participants, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2703, adding that this process will improve communication and lead to a peaceful settlement of this regional dispute. He also commended the role of the regional Commissions of the National Human Rights Council in Laayoune and Dakhla, as well as Morocco’s interaction with the special procedures of the United Nations Human Rights Council, as highlighted in Security Council Resolution 2703. The diplomat expressed his country’s support for MINURSO and its contribution to creating and maintaining calm and stability in the region, while underscoring the need to continue supporting the Mission in carrying out its ceasefire monitoring functions, as provided for in Security Council Resolution 2703. The ambassador, who praised Morocco’s continued cooperation with the UN Mission, called for respecting the ceasefire agreement. He also called on all parties to engage in good faith and in a spirit of compromise in the political process led under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General.