Sahara: Netherlands joins international momentum, supports Autonomy Plan

The Netherlands considered, Wednesday, the autonomy plan, presented in 2007 by Morocco, as “a serious and credible contribution to the UN-led political process” to find a solution to the Sahara issue.

This came in the joint statement issued after talks held in Marrakech by the Moroccan and dutch Foreign Ministers , Nasser Bourita and Wopke Hoekstra, on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS..

Through this new position, the Netherlands has clearly joined the international momentum of support for the Moroccan autonomy plan to definitively settle the artificial dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.

The new position of The Hague comes in the wake of the support expressed by the United States, Germany, Spain and the Philippines in favor of the autonomy initiative presented by Morocco in 2007 as the only basis for ending this dispute.

In the joint statement, the Netherlands and Morocco reaffirmed their support for the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, and his efforts to continue “a political process aimed at reaching a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution”, in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council and the aims and principles set out in the UN Charter.