Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Nasser Bourita and State Secretary Michael R. Pompeo
For the United States, independence is not an option to settle the Moroccan Sahara issue, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) pointed out in an article published on Sunday 11th of August 2019.
“Officials involved in the talks said the U.S. has made it clear that Washington won’t support a plan that leads to a new African nation,” the newspaper underlined in an article by Dion Nissenbaum.
“It has made clear in private talks that the U.S. backs Morocco in its opposition to the creation of an independent nation, according to Moroccan and Western officials involved in negotiations,” it said, noting that “those assurances helped bring Morocco back to the talks.”
“White House efforts to resolve this small African problem come with risks. Failure could stoke discontent in one of the few remaining pockets of stability in North Africa, creating new opportunities for Islamic State or al Qaeda to expand,” it added.
“Minurso has $52 million to keep stability, to keep a cease-fire in a region which is very difficult,” said Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr. Nasser Bourita, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“No one has died since the cease-fire, which means this is the most cost-effective peacekeeping mission in the world,” Bourita added.
“However, talks are on hold for now, with neighboring Algeria roiled by protests that forced the President’s resignation in April. In May, Horst Kohler, the former German President overseeing the new talks as the U.N.’s special envoy on Western Sahara, unexpectedly stepped aside for personal reasons.”
The Wall Street Journal underlined that Morocco has made huge efforts to develop the Sahara region.
On other hand, the US daily states that the Polisario is a Marxist group linked to regional terrorism, so settling the Sahara conflict is an urgent matter to preserve the security in the region.
In a video posted on the daily’s website along the article on the Sahara issue, journalist Dion Nissenbaum surveys the genesis of the Algeria-backed separatist movement of marxist obedience and how its connection with terror groups roaming in the Sahel-Sahara threatens peace and stability in the whole region.
The security situation in the region makes it urgent to settle the regional conflict and US policymakers are aware of this emergency, as failure to solve the issue could harm “one of the few remaining pockets of stability in North Africa, creating new opportunities for Islamic State or al Qaeda to expand,” the journalist underscores.
The administration of President Donald Trump that is facing up the terror threat on several fronts, is attentive to the situation in the Sahara and Sahel region, he notes, adding that the White House, being aware of the dangers posed by the SADR [the so-called republic self-proclaimed by the Polisario], is determined to end this conflict.
For the journalist, the dynamics underway under the auspices of the United Nations is the safest and cheapest option to arrive at a consensual outcome. (End)