Algeria calls for the "withdrawal of Moroccan forces" from Guerguerat before the Sahara conflict is resolved
Algeria, the main supporter of the separatist Polisario Front, called on Thursday for the withdrawal of Moroccan forces from the Guerguerat region in the Moroccan Sahara to facilitate the search for a settlement to the conflict in the region, after the appointment of a new UN envoy.
The United Nations appointed, on Wednesday, the 74-year-old Italian veteran of the organization, Staffan de Mistura, as a new envoy to the Sahara, after Morocco or the Polisario Front rejected 12 candidates since the position became vacant in May 2019.
Algeria announced, through the spokesperson of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that it "records with interest" de Mistura's appointment, and called for the withdrawal of the forces deployed by Morocco at the end of 2020 in the Guerguerat region, after a separatist group cut off the only road leading to Mauritania.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed that “the demilitarization of this region … constitutes the cornerstone of any credible political process aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict,” according to what was quoted by the official APS news agency.
He stressed that Algeria supports the efforts of the United Nations, and expressed hope that the nomination of a new envoy would lead to "the actual and serious resumption of direct negotiations between the two parties to the conflict, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front."
Rabat proposes granting its southern provinces autonomy under their sovereignty as a solution to the artificial conflict, which the United Nations considers a realistic and credible solution.
Algeria, which continued to refuse the outstretched hand of the Kingdom of Morocco, decided last August 24 to cut diplomatic relations with Rabat, and then announced a month later the closure of its airspace to all Moroccan civil and military aircraft, a decision considered by experts to have no effect on Moroccan air navigation.
