UN General Assembly reaffirms exclusivity of UN political process to resolve Sahara issue

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution reaffirming its support for the political process conducted under the exclusive auspices of the UN Security Council for the resolution of the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, and reiterating the definitive burial of the referendum.

The General Assembly thus confirmed the resolution adopted by the 4th committee last October.

The resolution calls on all parties to cooperate fully with the UN Secretary-General and his personal envoy to achieve a political solution to this regional dispute based on the resolutions adopted by the Security Council since 2007. It thus supports the political process based on the 19 resolutions of the Security Council since 2007, to reach a “just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution” to the Sahara issue.

The text highlights the efforts made in this regard and invites all parties to cooperate fully with the Secretary-General, and with each other, to achieve a “mutually acceptable political solution.”

This resolution, like its predecessors and those adopted by the Security Council for more than two decades, does not mention any referendum, an option dead and buried by the UN Secretary-General, the UN General Assembly, and the UN Security Council.

The United Nations General Assembly also welcomes in this resolution the commitment of the parties to continue to show political will and to work in an atmosphere conducive to dialogue, based on the efforts deployed and the new developments since 2006, thus ensuring the implementation of the Security Council resolutions since 2007.

It should be noted that the only new development in the political process since 2006 is the presentation by Morocco, on April 11, 2007, of the autonomy initiative.

In this regard, the text supports the resolutions of the Security Council since 2007, which have consecrated the pre-eminence of the Autonomy Initiative presented by Morocco, hailed by the executive body and by the entire international community as the only serious and credible initiative for the definitive settlement of this regional dispute within the framework of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom.

The resolution also supports the recommendations of Security Council resolutions 2440, 2468, 2494, 2548, 2602 and 2654, all enshrined in resolution 2703, adopted on October 30, 2023, which determine the parameters of the solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara, that is a political, realistic, pragmatic, lasting and compromise-based solution.

It should be recalled that resolutions 2440, 2468, 2494, 2548, 2602, 2654 and 2703 consecrated the round-table process as the sole framework of the political process and defined, once and for all, its four participants, namely Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the polisario. Actually, all these resolutions establish Algeria, together with Morocco, as the main party in this regional dispute.

Moreover, these Security Council resolutions welcome the measures and initiatives taken by Morocco for the promotion and protection of human rights in its southern provinces, and the role played by the Commissions of the National Human Rights Council in Laayoune and Dakhla, as well as Morocco’s interaction with the mechanisms of the UN Human Rights Council.

They also reiterate the request of the UN executive body for the registration and census of the population in the Tindouf camps, and demand the deployment of necessary efforts to this end.