swissinfo.ch – Nuakchot.- The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, called on Wednesday for “breaking the deadlock” in negotiations over the Western Sahara conflict and pushing for a settlement based on UN Security Council resolutions.
“We consider it necessary to return to the active search for concrete steps on how to overcome this impasse and push for a settlement based on UN Security Council decisions,” Lavrov told reporters in Nouakchott, where he is on an official visit as part of an African tour.
Lavrov also regretted that the Group of Friends of Western Sahara (Spain, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) has currently put its activity on “pause”.
This was one of the subjects discussed by the head of Russian diplomacy with his Mauritanian counterpart Mohamed Salem uld Merzoug.
“We discussed the problems on the African continent,” said the Russian minister after the meeting.
“We, like our Mauritanian colleagues, are concerned about the increased tension in the Sahara-Sahel region, where we need to join efforts for a more effective fight against terrorist manifestations.
According to Lavrov, the problem of terrorism “has not disappeared and is somehow increasing”.
Lavrov arrived in Nouakchott as part of a tour that began two days ago in Mali, where he paid a “working and friendly” visit.
This is the first visit by a Russian foreign minister to Mauritania since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1964.
