by Stefano Vaccara
NEW YORK (UNITED STATES) (ITALPRESS) – The United States is circulating among UN Security Council members a resolution project on Western Sahara which marks a diplomatic breakthrough after more than half a century of stall. The text, elaborated by the Trump administration as a penholder of the dossier, formally recognizes the plan of autonomy proposed by Morocco in 2007 as “a serious, credible and realistic basis” and as “the most credible for a just and lasting solution of the dispute”.
The draft, obtained in preview from ITALPRESS, extends the mandate of the UN MINURSO mission for only three months, until 31 January 2026, inviting the parties – Morocco, Algeria, Polisario and Mauritania – to resume direct negotiations, based solely on the Moroccan proposal of autonomy. The text also asks Secretary General António Guterres to present recommendations on the future of MINURSO, including its possible transformation or closure.
During the usual briefing at the United Nations, Italpress asked the Secretary-General’s spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, if this initiative is compatible with the principle of self-determination and how Guterres sees the prospect of limiting the mission’s mandate to three months. “The decision is for the Security Council – Dujarric replied –. Members, in their wisdom, will decide the fate of MINURSO. The Secretary-General will add nothing more, except that the mission continues its work and personal envoy (Staffan De Mistura, ndr) continues its contacts.”.
At that point, at the request for follow-up on a possible dismantling of the mission, the spokesman replied almost unwitting: “You know how it works: the Council decides, the Secretary General performs. We wait for the resolution.” A wait that could prelude at the end of MINURSO after more than thirty years of presence in Western Sahara.
-Photo IPA Agency-
(ITALPRESS).
