The U.S. Under Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, Michele Sison, will travel to Algeria and Morocco from January 21-26 to discuss the Western Sahara dispute.
«Sison will meet with senior officials, UN representatives and civil society leaders,» the State Department explained in a statement.
The U.S. diplomat «will underscore U.S. support for MINURSO,» the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, and for the efforts of U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura.
The trip will also serve to «discuss shared multilateral priorities within the UN system, including the importance of human rights as Algeria and Morocco join the UN Human Rights Council.
He will also defend the U.S. candidate for the International Court of Justice, Sarah Cleveland, and the candidate for Director General of the International Organization for Migration, Amy Pope.
The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 despite the resistance of the Polisario Front, with whom it was at war until 1991, when both parties signed a cease-fire with a view to holding a referendum on self-determination, but differences over the elaboration of the census and the inclusion or not of the Moroccan settlers have so far prevented its convocation.
On November 14, 2020, the Polisario Front declared the cease-fire with Morocco broken in response to a Moroccan military action against Saharawi activists in Guerguerat, in the agreed zone of détente, which was for the Saharawis a violation of the terms of the cease-fire.
The latest setback for the Saharawi independence fighters was the support of the Spanish government for the Moroccan autonomy plan made public on March 18 in a letter addressed to the Alaouite king, Mohamed VI, a change of position described as a betrayal by the Polisario Front, which recalls that Spain is still ‘de jure’ the administering power of Western Sahara.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
