Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani received on Thursday in Nouakchott UN Sahara envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is touring the region within the frame of his consultations with the parties to the Sahara conflict to advance the UN-led political process in line with UNSC resolution 2797.
De Mistura’s Nouakchott trip comes after his visits to Algeria and Tindouf camps and his talks with Algerian FM Ahmed Attaf and Polisario leaders ahead of the decisive meeting of the UN Security Council on the Sahara.
In the press statements issued following their meeting with de Mistura, both Algeria and Polisario showed reluctance to comply with UNSC resolution 2797 endorsing the Autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty.
The historic Resolution, adopted by the UNSC end of October 2025, calls upon the four parties to the Sahara conflict (Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Polisario) to engage in discussions without preconditions, taking as basis Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal, with a view to achieving a final and mutually acceptable political solution.
The Moroccan Autonomy plan is backed by 130 UN Member-States – including three permanent members of the Security Council. Yet, the Algerian regime, which shelters, funds and arms the Polisario militias, claims it is not a party to the Sahara dispute. It is also trying hard to skip the UN-US led quadripartite talks, while the Polisario continues to cling to outdated & impractical self-determination referendum abandoned by the UN Security Council.
Washington and the international community insist on implementing the UNSC resolution 2797, affirming that 50-year-old Sahara conflict cannot continue and must end.
After his talks with de Mistura, U.S. senior presidential advisor Massad Boulos, said they discussed “strategies to further the implementation of UNSCR 2797, specifically ways to assist the parties in achieving a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution.”
