The 74th session of the UN General Assembly is no exception to the rule. To Morocco and Algeria, this year's international event is another opportunity for the two neighboring countries to separately drum up support for the Western Sahara issue. Upon his arrival in New York, Sabri Boukadoum, the new Algerian Foreign Minister, met, Sunday, with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian. Although the current political situation in Algeria was at the heart of the meeting, the Western Sahara conflict was also part of the discussion, Algerian French-language newspaper El Moujahid reports. After his meeting with Le Drian, Boukadoum met Tuesday, September 24, with David Hale, the United States under Secretary of State for Political Affairs who is also known for his interest in the territorial dispute. «Current issues related to the Sahel region, Libya, Mali and Western Sahara, have been part of this meeting that brought Boukadoum and Hale together», said the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a communiqué relayed by the country's official press agency APS. Pedro Sanchez and the Western Sahara conflict While waiting for a face-to-face meeting with Nasser Bourita and Mike Pompeo or David Hale, the Sahara issue was at the heart of another meeting, held in New York between the Spanish Foreign Minister and his Moroccan counterpart. During this meeting, Josep Borrell reiterated his country's support for the actions of the United Nations, when it comes to the territorial dispute, Spanish press agency Europa Press reports. The same idea has been defended by Rabat, which refuses to have the African Union interfere in the settlement of the issue. By the same token, Spain's acting Prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, defended the centrality of the UN in reaching a «just, lasting and mutually acceptable political» solution to the Sahara issue, MAP reports. «The government of Spain defends the centrality of the United Nations and wishes to contribute to the efforts of the UN Secretary-General to achieve, in accordance with Security Council resolutions, a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution», he said Tuesday. This position confirms Madrid's support for Rabat on the Western Sahara issue. For the record, the territorial dispute is expected to be part of other meetings that will be held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, attended by Sabri Boukadoum and Nasser Bourita as heads of international delegations.
