"Following meetings in New York last week, including with the Secretary-General, Security Council members and the parties, the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for the Sahara, Christopher Ross, is on his way to the region for consultations,  beginning tomorrow in Rabat," the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Michèle Montas, said Tuesday at a press briefing.

    Ross, in his first visit to the area  in his capacity as the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy, will be in the region from Wednesday through 25 February, visiting Rabat, followed by Tindouf and Algiers, Montas said.

    He will then travel to Madrid and Paris from 25-27 February, and is expected to return to New York following this trip for further consultations at Headquarters, she said.

    The UN Secretary-General appointed the U.S. diplomat as his new personal envoy in January to "work with the parties and neighboring countries based on the most recent Security Council Resolution 1813 and previous resolutions, building on progress made to date, in pursuit of a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution."

    Delegations of Morocco, Polisario, Algeria and Mauritania have taken part, since June 2007, in Manhasset, New York outskirts, in four rounds of negotiations on the Sahara under the aegis of the former UN facilitator, Peter van Walsum, whose mandate expired last August.

    At the end of the latest round, the parties have committed to continue negotiations at a date to be set by common consent.

    This process has been launched thanks to the autonomy initiative for the Sahara region submitted by Morocco. The initiative has been lauded by the UN Security Council and the entire international community as the outcome of serious and credible efforts to put an end to the regional dispute over the Sahara.

Source: MAP
News and events on Western Sahara issue/ Corcas