No changes have been announced in the composition of delegations of participating parties, nor in the event process, which will begin with a generally inaugural speech delivered by the process mediator, i.e the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General to the Sahara, Mr. Peter Van Walsum, followed by speeches of the main protagonists in this issue.

Algerian and Mauritanian delegations participate with Morocco and the Polisario Front in these negotiations.  

However, the fourth round will start  few weeks after the publication of the interim report of the UN Secretary-General, dated January, 28 in which Mr. Ban Ki-moon believes that positions “remain far apart on ways to achieve a just, lasting and mutually acceptable solution", pointing out "the need to bring the process into more intense negotiation phase”.

The 4th round also comes after a tour of the Personal Envoy, Mr. Peter Van Walsum, mid-February, in Rabat, Algiers and Nouakchott.

These negotiations are taking place in accordance with resolutions 1754 and 1783 in which the Security Council had taken note of the Moroccan autonomy proposal for the Sahara region, welcoming «the serious and credible efforts" made by Morocco "to move forward towards the settlement of the Sahara issue.

Source: Corcas

News and events relating to Western Sahara issue / Corcas