Morocco welcomes UNSC resolution on MINURSO mandate extension

Morocco welcomed the UN Security Council Resolution 2703 renewing for another year the mandate of the peacekeeping mission in the Sahara, MINURSO, and reiterating the credible and serious character of the autonomy plan.

“The growing international support for the autonomy initiative and the opening in Laayoune and Dakhla of some 30 consulates and the non-recognition by 84% of UN member states of the puppet entity, as well as the economic and social momentum in the region as part of the new development model for the southern provinces are all factors that bolster Morocco’s approach to this issue,” the foreign ministry said in a statement following the vote on the resolution.

The Security Council adopted the resolution with 13 votes in favor and two unsurprising abstentions by Russia and Mozambique who failed to re-introduce the obsolete referendum option.

Morocco commended the resolution for its straightforwardness in citing Algeria as a party to the conflict. Both Morocco and Algeria were cited six times in the text.

The same resolution reaffirmed the importance of continuing the round table political process with the participation of Algeria.

Morocco also welcomed the call of the UN on all parties to work together to “achieve a realistic, practicable, enduring and mutually acceptable political solution to the question of Western Sahara based on compromise”

The resolution also raised the obstacles posed to the MUNIRSO by the Polisario front and urged a head-count of the population held in Tindouf camps.

Morocco remains committed to back the UN Secretary General and his personal envoy to relaunch the round table talks to reach a political solution based on the autonomy plan in full respect of the Kingdom’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the foreign ministry’s statement said.