Durable and dignified political solution for Western Sahara addressed in the US/Algeria call

PUSL .- Enduring and dignified political solution for Western Sahara was addressed during Deputy Secretary Sherman’s Call with Algerian Foreign Minister Attaf

According to the office of S Matthew Miller spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State on the 20th of June Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman spoke with Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf .

During the call Sherman and Attaf talked about shared efforts to advance regional stability and further strengthen the U.S.-Algeria relationship.

Deputy Secretary Sherman congratulated FM Attaf on Algeria’s election to the UN Security Council and looked forward to partnering on the full range of challenges before the Security Council.

Algeria was elected unchallenged, with 184 votes, in June to sit on the UN Security Council starting 1st of January 2024.

Sherman and Attaf discussed the necessity of including full support for UN Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General Staffan de Mistura as he intensifies efforts to achieve an enduring and dignified political solution for Western Sahara.

The position of Algeria on the Western Sahara is of clear and unwavering support to international law and the UN resolution in order to achieve the self-determination and sovereignty of the Saharawi People of the entirety of their territory. Around two thirds of the Western Sahara is illegally occupied since 1975 but the referendum that was agreed upon Morocco and Polisario Front has not be put in place yet due to the constant obstacles put forward by Morocco and the resumption of war in November 2020 due to the attack of Morocco against Saharawi civilians in the buffer zone that lead to the end of the cease-fire in place since 1991.

In the United Nations Security Council the USA is the penholder on the Western Sahara issue and has not been able to hide their preference and for Morocco.

Although the USA never recognized the occupation of Morocco as legal, ex-President Trump took upon himself to publish on his twitter account that he recognized Western Sahara as an integral part of Morocco and even talked about opening a consulat in the occupied territory but this never happened.

It will be interesting to see how the newly elected non-permanent members of the security council will handle the Western Sahara Question.

The elected member that will take their seat on the Un Security Council are Algeria, Republic of Korea and Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Guyana. Their two-year terms will end on 1 January 2026.