Sahara: De Mistura’s diplomatic blunder & Pretoria’s interference raising eyebrows!

UN Sahara envoy Staffan De Mistura’s talks held lately in Pretoria with South African foreign minister and Morocco’s enemies have left many scratching their heads trying to understand the rationale behind such a strange move.

What’s intriguing is that Mr. De Mistura knows that South Africa is taking a hostile stand against Morocco’s territorial integrity and supports the Algerian regime and its puppet, the Polisario armed militia.

Pretoria is not a party to the Sahara issue. It is neither a member of the UN Security Council nor President of the African Union. It is not Morocco’s neighbor nor a member of the Group of Friends of the Sahara, which includes France, Russia, Spain, the UK and the USA.

The Sahara issue is handled exclusively by the UN Security Council. Yet, Pretoria has challenged the Council and over-stepped its prerogatives by meddling in this North Africa conflict.

Instead of standing up against South Africa’s interference in the UN-led political process, Mr. De Mistura responded favorably to Pretoria’s anti-Moroccan scheme raising questions over the UN envoy neutrality.

Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, has tried hardly to defend and justify De Mistura’s controversial trip saying that he went “to speak with the parties he believes want to discuss the issue; this is part of his mandate.” However, his arguments were not convincing.

According to some analysts, South Africa’s hostile move comes after Morocco won UN Human Rights Council Presidency, beating Pretoria with the majority of the votes of the UN Body. Morocco won the presidency with 30 votes from the 47-member UN body versus 17 for South Africa

The election of Morocco to this prestigious UN body, despite Algeria/South Africa hostile campaign, is an international recognition of the Kingdom’s rights achievements and credibility.