Sahara: For Dominica, Political Solution ‘Will Contribute” to Stability and Security of Sahel

The political solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara, based on the Moroccan autonomy initiative, will contribute to the stability and security of the Sahel region, stressed, in New York, the representative of Dominica to the UN. “The autonomy initiative presented by Morocco is a credible, serious and realistic solution that will end the regional conflict and bring prosperity to the entire Maghreb region,” the diplomat also said before the 4th Committee of the UN General Assembly. He also expressed his country’s “full” support for the efforts and political process conducted under the “exclusive” auspices of the UN Secretary-General to find a “realistic, pragmatic and lasting political solution, based on compromise” to the regional conflict over the Sahara, as recommended in the 18 Security Council resolutions since 2007. Welcoming the “momentum” driven by the two previous roundtable meetings held in Geneva with the participation of Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the “polisario”, the official highlighted the “paramount” importance of this process. In this regard, he urged all parties to remain “committed” throughout this process, in a spirit of realism and compromise in order to achieve a happy ending to the conflict over the Moroccan Sahara. On the same occasion, the representative of Dominica welcomed the appointment of the new personal envoy of the UN SG for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, calling it a “positive step” in the UN political process aimed at achieving a “mutually acceptable political solution” to this regional dispute. He expressed the wish to see the process resume “where the former personal envoy of the UN SG left off”, under the same format and with the same participants; Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the “polisario”. The diplomat highlighted the massive participation of the populations of the southern provinces in the triple vote of September 8 “who chose, democratically their legitimate representatives”, recalling that elected representatives of the Moroccan Sahara took part in regional seminars of the UN Committee of 24. In addition, he called for the registration and census of the population in the camps of Tindouf, noting that this is a “necessity” in accordance with international humanitarian law, the recommendations of the UN SG and Security Council resolutions since 2011, including resolution 2548.