 Belgium believes that it is essential to ensure the freedom of movement and cross-border exchanges at the level of El Guerguarat, underlined on Monday evening the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Affairs foreigners, Sophie Wilmès.
"We believe that it is essential to ensure the freedom of movement and cross-border exchanges in the area of El Guerguarat, which has a significant impact on the entire Maghreb and Sahel region, a region of strategic importance", said the Belgian top diplomat before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives as part of the presentation of the general policy of her department.
As a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Belgium, she underlined, "shares the concerns following the events in the buffer zone of El Guerguarat and we fully subscribe to the recent declaration of the UN Secretary General, as well as to the various appeals from the members of the Security Council and the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs who call on all parties to do their utmost to save the ceasefire agreement and avoid an escalation on the ground".
Mrs. Wilmès, who had been questioned by the federal deputy André Flahaut on the intervention of Morocco to secure this zone after being blocked by armed militias of the Polisario, stressed that "Belgium attaches great importance to the ceasefire agreements in force since 1991 and reiterates its full support for the efforts of MINURSO to this end".
She added that her country "reiterates its full support for the efforts of the United Nations and its Secretary General with a view to achieving a peaceful settlement to the Sahara issue in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and in particular the last resolution 2548 adopted on October 30, 2020".
The Belgian Deputy Prime Minister also said that her country wishes in this context, "a rapid resumption of discussions under the leadership of the United Nations and a new personal envoy of the UN Secretary General".
She recalled that her country "fully supports the efforts of the UN Secretary General to bring together all the parties again in order to relaunch the political process started under the previous personal envoy".
Belgium will continue to support the UN's efforts to achieve "an inclusive, just and lasting political solution" to the Sahara issue, she pointed out, noting that "only a negotiated and peaceful solution will enable to put an end to it and will contribute to the prosperity and development of the region".
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