De Mistura to present visit findings, conclusions to UN Security Council on April 20

The United Nations Security Council will meet on 20 April to discuss the Western Sahara conflict, where the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura will make a presentation.

Staffan de Mistura is expected to outline the conclusions of his first tour in the region, which occurred last January, in addition to his various meetings with international actors involved in the Western Sahara conflict, according to the United Nations Security Council.

On 15 January, de Mistura met with separatist Brahim Ghali and visited the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria.

A UNHCR report published in February states that these camps host some 90,000 Sahrawi refugees, although UNHCR also notes that the actual number is estimated to be much higher.

On 17 January, de Mistura met with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani and Foreign Minister Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in Mauritania’s capital, Nouakchott. He returned to Algeria for a meeting with Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra and Amar Belani, Algeria’s Special Envoy on the question of Western Sahara and Maghreb Countries.

In a press release following de Mistura’s visit, Algeria expressed support for “direct negotiations without preconditions between Morocco and the Polisario Front,” excluding itself from the conflict.

Since then, diplomatic relations between Morocco and Algeria have increasingly deteriorated, culminating in the latter cutting diplomatic ties with the Kingdom.

“The key issue for Council members to consider is how to bring all parties to the negotiating table,” says a security council report, regarding the upcoming meeting.

Resolution 2602 of 29 October 2021 called on all parties to resume negotiations with a view to “achieving a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara,” which would inherently include Algeria.