Algeria timidly rejects pro-Moroccan Security Council resolution on Sahara

The latest UN Security Council resolution on the Sahara dealt another blow to Algeria which took two days to react with a timid statement stating its usual pro-separatist stands and an anachronism verging on illusions to see the UN return to unfeasible referendum option.

The Algerian foreign ministry issued its statement rejecting the UN resolution 2654 adopted by a majority of 13 votes and the expected abstentions of Russia and Kenya.

The resolution urges Algeria to take part as a party to the conflict to the round table process ushered under the former UN envoy Horst Kohler and which the current envoy Di Mistura is trying to revive.

Unlike its past year stance in which Algeria vowed not to take part in the round table process, this year Algeria issued a statement with a very vague language that avoided a head-on collision with the 13 Security Council members urging Algeria to play its role in the UN process to reach a peaceful solution to the Sahara conflict based on compromise.

Morocco had welcomed the resolution which vindicates its diplomatic stands by urging Algeria and the other parties to the conflict to show realism and work together with the UN envoy to reach a mutually acceptable solution while welcoming Morocco’s autonomy plan.

The resolution also calls on Algeria to uphold its responsibility and allow the UN to conduct a head-count of the population held by the Polisario militias in the Tindouf camps. The Algerian statement turned a blind eye to this call.