Solution to Sahara issue is to be found within the United Nations – UK’s Ambassador

The United Kingdom’s ambassador to Morocco Thomas Reilly has pointed out that the United Nations must play an exclusive role in the Sahara settlement process and that a solution to the Sahara issue is to be found within the United Nations.

The British ambassador who pointed out that his country “understands very well the importance and the centrality” of this issue for Morocco, made it clear that the UK is for a just, pragmatic, sustainable, mutually acceptable and compromise-based solution to the conflict.

The United Kingdom considers that the United Nations must play an exclusive role in this process, he pointed out in a statement to the Moroccan TV channel 2M on the sidelines of the signing Saturday in London of an association agreement between the UK and Morocco, paving the way for their post-Brexit partnership.

“It’s up to the United Nations to find a solution and we have to find the solution within the United Nations,” the diplomat insisted.

These remarks emphasize the exclusivity of the UN as the only legitimate entity liable to address the Sahara issue.

Reilly also alluded to the Morocco proposed autonomy initiative saying that the UK “welcomes the serious and credible efforts of Morocco to find a solution to the conflict.”

Morocco’s autonomy initiative has been repeatedly described by most members of the Security Council, notably France and the US, as a “serious and credible” basis for a political solution to the conflict.

The British diplomat also alluded to the momentum built under Horst Kohler, the personal envoy of the UN Secretary General for the Sahara who resigned last May, stressing that his country also welcomes “the progress made through the two roundtables” held in Geneva in Dec.2018 and March 2019.

For the first time in decades, Horst Kohler had succeeded in convincing Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, and the Polisario Front to sit at the same negotiating table.

The UK “continues to encourage the parties to increase their efforts to achieve a solution to this issue”, he added.

Thomas Reilly’s remarks are all the more significant as the UK is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, which is set to vote on a new resolution on the conflict on October 30. The resolution will extend the mandate of the peacekeeping mission in the Sahara, commonly known as MINURSO that expires on Oct.31.

Regarding the new association Agreement, Ambassador Thomas Reilly expressed hope that the deal will usher in a new phase of increased bilateral investment in each other’s economies, which is so essential for continued stable economic growth.
He said Morocco has a well-diversified and modern market across a number of sectors where UK companies and expertise have much to offer.

The UK-Morocco Association Agreement signed Saturday replicates the effects of the existing EU-Morocco Association Agreement.
The two countries have also signed a political declaration, in addition to an exchange of letters on an understanding on dispute settlement and a mutual agreement on the access of all the Moroccan products, including those from the Moroccan Sahara region, to the UK market.