Tonight in Algiers, Staffan de Mistura, the UN Secretary-General's personal envoy for Western Sahara, met with Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf. According to a statement from the ministry, Attaf reaffirmed Algeria's support for UN efforts «to find a just, sustainable, and definitive solution to the Western Sahara issue, ensuring the inalienable and imprescriptible right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions». The minister underscored «the central and vital role entrusted to the United Nations», stressing the need for the organization to back all initiatives aimed at facilitating direct, unconditional negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front. Attaf reiterated Algeria's commitment to defending the principle of decolonization, highlighting the importance of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) as «a cornerstone of the international commitment to decolonization in Western Sahara, the last colony on the African continent». Algeria fears the Security Council could move to formally abandon the referendum option this October. As a reminder, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan disbanded the UN commission responsible for identifying Sahrawi voters in 2000. In his June 20, 2000 report, Annan acknowledged that «the identification process» and all activities linked to the settlement plan, except for maintaining the ceasefire, had been stalled since late 1995. He blamed the deadlock on the Polisario Front, which rejected the inclusion of members of the «Tribes of the North» and the «Coastal Tribes of the South» listed in Spain's 1974 census. De Mistura's visit to Algiers comes eleven days after his meeting with Mossad Boulos, special advisor to US President Donald Trump for Africa. Following that meeting, the envoy stated that the Western Sahara conflict primarily pits Morocco against Algeria. The Italo-Swedish diplomat is expected to present his report on the political dimensions of the Sahara issue to the Security Council in the coming weeks.
