The Polisario Front announced that its Secretary-General, Brahim Ghali, met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday, on the sidelines of the seventh African Union-European Union summit held in the Angolan capital, Luanda. The leader of the separatist front addressed the recent UN Security Council Resolution 2797 and spoke about "attempts by some parties to change the nature of a case registered with the United Nations as a decolonization issue since 1963," adding that "these attempts will not resolve the issue and do not serve peace, security, and stability in North Africa." Brahim Ghali affirmed the Polisario Front's "readiness to enter into serious and sincere negotiations without preconditions... to create conditions in which the Sahrawi people can make a sovereign decision about their future freely." While the United Nations has not published any news about the meeting, the separatist front stated that the UN Secretary-General praised the in-depth discussion that took place regarding the recent Security Council resolution and the positions expressed, indicating personal envoy Staffan de Mistura's intention "to engage with both parties." Yesterday, the United Nations published the Arabic version of Resolution 2797, a move that clearly revealed a divergence from the interpretations promoted by Algeria and the Polisario Front regarding the concept of the parties involved in the conflict. The Arabic text explicitly confirms that the four parties are: Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria, and Mauritania, contradicting the reading that limited the conflict to only two parties. The resolution considered that granting the Western Sahara region genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty could be the most effective solution to the conflict that has lasted for nearly fifty years. It is noteworthy that the UN envoy for the Sahara had previously expressed, a few days after the adoption of the UN resolution, his eagerness to see "from Morocco the content of an expanded and updated autonomy plan." De Mistura stated that the "follow-up plan will initially involve inviting all parties to submit proposals and suggestions to allow the United Nations to develop a broad agenda for direct or - if necessary - indirect talks on the most important issues." He added that he would take the Moroccan autonomy plan of 2007 as the basis for these negotiations.
