The UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara will be received in the coming hours at the US diplomatic headquarters in Washington. Staffan de Mistura is scheduled to meet with Ambassador Lisa Kenna, the official responsible for political affairs, as announced by the State Department. Lisa Kenna recently participated in a meeting on Tuesday, April 8, between United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. At the conclusion of this meeting, the Trump administration reaffirmed its support for Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara, initially expressed on December 10, 2020. The administration also urged the Polisario Front to engage in negotiations regarding the autonomy proposal put forward by Rabat in 2007, within the framework of Morocco's sovereignty. For context, Staffan de Mistura recently completed a regional tour of the parties directly involved in the Sahara issue, with stops in Rabat, Nouakchott, the Tindouf camps, and Algiers. The UN envoy is set to hold a closed-door briefing for Security Council members on April 14, during which he will update them on the latest developments in the Sahara issue since October 31, 2024. The United States, as the penholder for UN resolutions on the Sahara issue, plays a pivotal role in drafting and shaping them.
