Morocco has recently presented to the UNO its proposal to grant substantial autonomy to its southern provinces, the Sahara to put an end to the three-decade old dispute opposing the kingdom to the Algerian-backed "Polisario" separatists, who claim the independence of this former Spanish colony, retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accord.
"Members of the Council are enthusiastic there should be negotiations between the parties," current Council president, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told the press, following a UNSC closed hearing.
"There would be no difficulties to renew the mandate of the MINURSO (French acronym for the United Nations Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara)," he added, noting that the utmost concern of the Council lays in the fact that the renewal "would help a process of negotiations between the parties directly."
The Security Council will continue its consultations in the coming days in the prospect of adopting, next Friday, a resolution extending the mandate of the Minurso.
During the meeting, Peter van Walsum, the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Sahara presented an exposé to the UNSC members, urging negotiations to end this conflict.
In his report to the UNSC, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on Tuesday, reiterated his call to the parties, to enter into “negotiations without preconditions” to reach an acceptable solution to the Sahara dispute.
Except the representative of South Africa, UNSC members stressed unanimously the importance of the Moroccan initiative for negotiating an autonomy statute for the Sahara region, and commended Morocco’s efforts to get out of the current stalemate.
They also described the Moroccan initiative as a solid basis for negotiation and dialog as they stem from UN recommendations and from successful experiences in several democratic countries.