PRESS

Algeria calls for rapid appointment of UN Envoy for Western Sahara

New York- Algeria's Ambassador to the United Nations, Sofiane Mimouni, called Monday for the rapid appointment of a new UN secretary-general's personal envoy for Western Sahara, deploring the "unilateral procrastination" and "intentional obstacles" through the holding of a referendum on self-determination in the occupied territories.

"The resumption of direct and substantive talks between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front is the obvious way to achieve a just and lasting solution. In this spirit, we urge the Secretary-General to quickly appoint a new personal envoy hoping that he will contribute to relaunching the dialogue between the two parties," said Mimouni on the occasion of the annual session of the Special Committee on Decolonization, known as the C-24.

He deplored, in his speech to the committee, the inability of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to fulfill its mission, noting that many opportunities had been missed to achieve a just solution to the Sahrawi issue.

"The issue of Western Sahara has always been and remains a question of decolonization," said the Algerian diplomat, recalling that "the historic advisory opinion of 1975 of the International Court of Justice" considered that Morocco had no authority over Western Sahara.