In a rare meeting on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres spoke with King Mohammed VI of Morocco about the contentious Western Sahara territory.
Morocco and the Polisario Front, who are fighting for Sahrawi independence and are backed by Algeria, have been engaged in a low-intensity struggle in Western Sahara for more than 40 years.
De facto, Morocco owns 80% of the enormous phosphate-rich desert territory, which also has a lengthy Atlantic coast that borders productive fishing grounds.
According to a royal statement, King Mohammed reiterated on Wednesday Morocco’s view that the regional disagreement should be resolved “within the framework of sovereignty and geographical integrity of the kingdom.”
The UN acknowledged that on the fringes of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations hosted in the Moroccan city of Fez, Guterres and the monarch had spoken about “the situation in the area and, in particular, in Western Sahara.”
The Western Sahara is seen by the monarchy as one of its own “southern provinces,” which it used to rule before colonial Spain gained control.
The referendum on self-determination, which was intended when a truce was negotiated in 1991 but was never carried out, is being demanded by the Polisario Front.
In November 2020, that truce was broken.
The UN Security Council requested that talks begin in late October in order to find a “lasting and mutually acceptable” resolution.
In an effort to restart the stagnant peace process in Western Sahara, Guterres selected Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura as his personal envoy last year.
Despite the fact that Mistura has subsequently traveled to the area multiple times, Guterres stated in his recently released annual report that he was “very worried by the development of the situation.”
According to the royal administration, Mohammed VI reaffirmed on Wednesday “the support of the kingdom to the work of the Secretary-General and his personal envoy.”
