Sahara Conflict, Textbook Example of ‘Frozen Conflict’- US Says

The Sahara conflict has become a “textbook example of a frozen conflict”, said the US mission to the UN in an explanation for the UN Security Council vote for Resolution 2414 renewing MINURSO mandate for six months instead of one year as has been always the case.

“The fact is that we, as a Security Council, have allowed Western Sahara to lapse into a textbook example of a frozen conflict. And MINURSO is a textbook example of a peacekeeping mission that no longer serves a political purpose,” the US mission said in a statement on its website.

“MINURSO is a peacekeeping mission that should have finished its job a long time ago,” it said.

The US explained the renewal of MINURSO mandate for six months as a means to stress that “there can be no more business as usual with MINURSO” and the Sahara conflict and that “the time is now to lend our support, our full support for Personal Envoy Kohler in his efforts to facilitate negotiations with the parties.”

“Over the next six months, we expect that the parties will return to the table and engage Personal Envoy Kohler,” the US mission said.

In an allusion to Algeria, the mission urged neighboring states to “recognize the special and important role they can play in supporting this negotiating process.”

The US also gave credence to the serious, credible and realistic character of Morocco’s autonomy proposal as a sound basis for negotiations.

“We continue to view Morocco’s autonomy plan as serious, credible, and realistic, and it represents one potential approach to satisfy the aspirations of the people in Western Sahara to run their own affairs with peace and dignity,” the US statement said.