UN: European Union reiterates call for registration of population in Tindouf camps

The European Union (EU) reiterated, Friday before the 4th Committee of the UN General Assembly, its call for the registration by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of the population of the Tindouf camps, in Algerian territory, as requested by the Security Council.

 

Germany’s permanent representative to the UN, Christoph Heusgen, who was making a statement on behalf of EU countries during the adoption by the 4th Committee of a resolution on the Sahara issue, also noted the worsening conditions in the camps, underlining that the international community needs to go beyond providing humanitarian assistance for distressed Sahrawis in the camps.

 

Invoking the latest UN report and Security Council resolution on the Sahara territorial dispute, the EU representative argued that a census by the UNHCR would confer more effectiveness to any UN efforts and monitoring initiatives in the camps.

 

He also stressed that the European bloc remains “concerned” about implications of the Sahara conflict on security and cooperation in the region.

 

The diplomat indicated that the EU welcomes “the commitment of the UN Secretary General to relaunch the negotiations with a new dynamic and a new spirit leading to the resumption of the political process, with the objective of achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution” to the Sahara conflict.

 

The EU continues “to encourage the parties to show political will, and to work in an atmosphere conducive to dialogue in order to enter a new phase of negotiations, in good faith and without preconditions, taking note of the efforts made and the new developments since 2006,” the German diplomat said.

 

“It is important that the parties show more political will in order to reach a solution” to this regional dispute, he insisted.

 

The German diplomat also paid tribute to the efforts and work accomplished by the former Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General for the Sahara, Horst Köhler, in particular through the holding of the two roundtables in Geneva between Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, and the Polisario, underlining that the EU is looking forward to the appointment of a new Personal Envoy to continue the political process led by the United Nations.