 Polisario's announcement of its withdrawal from the ceasefire agreement is extremely serious and undermines the stability of the entire region including the European neighborhood, said Erik Jensen, former special representative of the UN Secretary General for the Sahara.
"The recent events in Guerguarat, in the buffer zone on the border with Mauritania, which serves as an important commercial and civil transit link to and from other parts of Africa, is a particularly dangerous new element," Jensen told the Moroccan News Agency (MAP).
The Polisario, which was deliberately blocking the passage until Morocco intervenes to restore civil and commercial movement, announced the mobilization of its militias "in an escalation and alarming development where a potential armed conflict would be a disaster for the entire region," the former head of MINURSO pointed out.
The frustration of the Polisario and its inability to advance its ambitions, accentuated by the disastrous situation at all levels in the Tindouf camps, risk causing the situation to explode, according to Mr. Jensen.
He recalled that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who expressed his concern, and the Security Council have called for restraint and respect for the ceasefire provisions and to lower tensions.
For Mr. Jensen, diplomacy must play its role more than ever to avoid the worst. The alternative to military action remains a negotiated solution, he added, noting that the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco in 2007 and that the Polisario was prepared to negotiate in 1996, is being considered by the Council of Security and the international community as credible and serious.
"Morocco's initiative offers an honorable alternative to war and a better prospect for a just and lasting peace," he concluded.
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