April 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The UN envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, has met with the Foreign Minister of Algeria, Ahmed Attaf, within the framework of the round of contacts undertaken in recent weeks and which precedes the presentation of a new report on the situation of the former Spanish colony.
De Mistura, who already met at the beginning of the month with the head of Moroccan diplomacy, Naser Burita, and this week with the representative of the Polisario Front to the UN, Sidi Omar, spoke on Tuesday afternoon before the Security Council his most recent evaluation behind closed doors.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry reported in a statement on the meeting between De Mistura and Attaf, who spoke of the UN's efforts to “relaunch the political process” with the participation of “the two parties in conflict, the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco”.
The Government of Algeria has insisted on the need to “reach a political solution that guarantees the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination”, in line with the Polisario theses.
Attaf has also met with the head of the United States Department of State for North African issues, Joshua Harris, also with Western Sahara as one of the main points on the agenda, according to the official Algerian note.
The meetings in New York have coincided with another symbolic meeting in Algiers between the Algerian president, Abdelmayid Tebune, and the general secretary of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali. Both are allies in a territorial dispute in which Morocco only contemplates a future for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty.
